


Day in June

by TheFireDragoness



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Alcoholic Hank Anderson, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst with a Happy Ending, Anxiety Attacks, But he's recovering and getting better, Depiction of violence is for some pretty gnarly crime scenes, Depressed Hank Anderson, F/M, Female Reader, Friends to Lovers, Hurt/Comfort, Lieutenant Reader, Not Beta Read, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Panic Attacks, Past Rape/Non-con, Post-Pacifist Best Ending (Detroit: Become Human), Reader-Insert, Sharing a Bed, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Upgraded Connor | RK900 Has a Different Name, attempt at slow burn, mentioned briefly - Freeform, reader has ptsd
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-06
Updated: 2019-09-11
Packaged: 2019-10-23 17:27:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 50,866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17687774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheFireDragoness/pseuds/TheFireDragoness
Summary: You and Hank used to be pretty close up until Cole's death. After he spiraled down in his grief it tore the two of you apart in an almost irreparable manner. It's been a few years since then, the android revolution has occurred and androids have been recognized as intelligent lifeforms. Now that things have settled down it should be back to the usual casework, except now for this new case you've been assigned a new partner. While you try to solve this string of murders, both Niles and Connor are trying to get you and Hank back in each other's good graces. Somehow Gavin gets involved in both of these aspects and tries to also help in his own way.(Inspired by the song "Day in June" by Kid Astray.)





	1. New Partners and New Shenanigans

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I needed more reader inserts with Hank and then I also wanted one where the reader was closer to Hank in age ^^;
> 
> Soulmates can feel one another’s pain, not like minor bumps or bruises but the stuff that really hurts. People usually have a soul mark of some kind appear on their person at varying ages; the marks can be anything from the first letter of their name to a phrase that they’ll say to you, or a colored shape of some kind to reflect what kind of person they are.

     You remember how everyone had always carried on about when they got their soul marks when you were a kid. Like who their “perfect match” was or if they knew each other and other such nonsense. Even the teachers seemed to deem it necessary to drill this idea of soul mate etiquette into your heads. It all seemed rather ridiculous. Though anyone you’d expressed that to in your younger years attributed it to the fact your soul mark didn’t appear till you were in your late teens. Or in more recent years it’s been attributed to the cynicism of age. It was the kind of topic you just kept your mouth shut about nowadays, it wasn’t worth the time and effort to explain yourself anymore. Your own soul mark had appeared on your upper right arm in the vague shape of a big dog in a coppery red. Though after... what happened when you were abroad.. there was a distinct cut in what remained of your soul mark. The prosthetic was only able to mimic what had been your arm and not the mark that had once been a part of it. Something about soul marks having "special properties that we don't quite have enough understanding over at this time" was the reason they'd given.

 

     The time was currently about 7 am, the blaring alarm you'd just shut off confirmed as much. Today's date was November 24, 2038. Or was it the 25th? You checked your phone again for the hundredth time and it told you the same thing as every other time: 7 am on November 24, 2038. Zero new notifications. Another nightmare had awoken you around 5 am and despite your best efforts sleep definitely wasn't coming back. However, you hadn't had the heart to actually get up out of bed so you'd lightly dozed and lazily watched the way the sun's rays drove the night's lingering shadows away. The gray light that filtered through the window was certainly easier on your eyes but didn’t help with making you want to get out of bed any more than when you had first woken up. Today was the day you were supposed to be back at the precinct after having to take a week off for health concerns. Fowler had insisted and even gone so far as to order you to take time off. What kind of Captain tells one of their Lieutenants to take a vacation anyway?

 

     One who probably cares about your well being if you were being honest. Especially after how you’d been both during and after the android revolution went down. You knew you were a shit show at the time. But everyone and everything else was too.

 

     With a groan, you ran a hand over your face. A glance at the clock on your nightstand showed it was now 7:15 am. You needed to get ready if you wanted to get to the station on time. Gross. First things first was gently moving the fingers on your right hand to make sure the synthetic skin was active. It wouldn't do to be running around with an android-looking arm, it would draw way too much attention to you. After giving it a second you threw off the warm covers and quickly set about getting yourself ready.

 

     A quick trip to the bathroom left you more than wide awake from how cold it was. Suppressing the urge to hop from one foot to the other you managed to run a brush through your hair to get it into some semblance of put together. It was too cold to put it up into a ponytail so you grabbed a hair tie and slipped it on to your wrist for just later just in case. The small streaks of gray definitely stuck out in the bright light. Or honestly, maybe it just stuck out to you. Brushing your teeth quickly you finished up in the bathroom, so it was back down the hall to the bedroom to get dressed. You didn't exactly have the most extensive of wardrobes so the usual style is what it was going to have to be. Especially since you would most likely just be on desk duty once more since Hank was usually the one being sent out on cases.

 

    You pulled out a pair of worn jeans, a plain grey long sleeve shirt, a purple and grey flannel, and some wool-lined knee high socks. A suitable enough outfit for traveling the early winter Detroit weather in. First, it was off with the t-shirt and pajama shorts you'd worn to bed. Grabbing the bra you'd worn the other day from the laundry hamper you pulled it on easily, settling and adjusting so everything was in place. Next, it was the long sleeve shirt and the socks, then hiking the jeans up your legs and over the socks. The flannel fit loosely and you buttoned it up leaving the top one undone, it added a nice extra layer without being heavy or constricting like your winter coat was.

 

    A glance at the clock: 7:35 am. Due to the time it took for the bus to travel meant that you would just have to wait to get coffee at the precinct. You made sure to pocket your phone and keys from where they'd been on your nightstand before making a beeline towards the entryway. Slipping on your boots was easy enough and you had already made sure to pack your bag the night before. Grabbing your favorite hoodie from where it'd been slung over the top of the couch and putting it on brought a nice sense of comfort and familiarity. You zipped it up and grabbed the heavy winter coat and scarf from the closet and put them on quickly. The thought of grabbing a hat or earmuffs crossed your mind briefly but you decided against it. You wouldn't be outside long enough for either item to be of much help.

 

     Slinging your bag over your shoulder you headed out the door and made sure to lock it behind you. The morning air was sharp and it felt like needles pricking every bit of exposed skin. Each puff of breath was visible and it made a small part of you giddy with childlike glee, though that was only a very small part. The rest just didn't like how the cold made a numb feeling settle in your very bones in spite of the layers you had on. It made you feel unnecessarily old. A quick glance at your phone as you made your way down the stairs of your apartment building: 7:40 am. You needed to hustle to the bus stop since the bus would be arriving at any moment. Ah, it was both a blessing and a curse of self-driving vehicles as they would always be on time and never late. Just as that rueful thought crossed your mind you heard the sound of the bus just from further up the road. A look to your left as you reached the sidewalk confirmed that much. Thankfully there was the standard fare of two others at the same stop you take so you wouldn't have to sprint down the way. But a lite jog did happen to make sure you could actually get on the bus.

 

     Stepping up onto the bus after the other two passengers was easy enough, you were a little out of breath but not so much that you were completely winded. Thankfully the bus was empty enough to find a seat by the back door, one of the few perks of being on the earlier part of the bus route and having your stop be before the real hustle and bustle of morning traffic. As the bus departed it gave you a bit of a reprieve to let your mind wander.

 

     The "Android Section" of the bus was still in place but there wasn't anyone in there, in fact, you could see at least one or two in the main section of the bus based on the LED on their temples. It was probably for the best in your opinion. You never liked the whole idea of an "Android Compartment" in the first place. Maybe you were biased because of your time abroad but you had always been fond of androids. Always treating them with the same respect and dignity you would give any other person. Hank had at least been ambivalent towards them before the accident. Hell, the two of you had even been pretty close before that. But Lieutenant Anderson made it real clear real fast that he didn't want you around much after Cole's death. So it was strict professionalism. At least with him anyhow. It wasn't like he'd made any move to apologize, so you hadn't either.

 

     A sigh escaped you unbidden, temporarily fogging up a small spot on the window. That was one wound that hadn't healed in spite of the years that have passed. When Cole died you felt the heartbreak that coursed through Hank. It left you crumpled on the ground and howling in pain when it happened. That was the moment you couldn't pretend to not know Hank was your soulmate anymore. That kind of pain wasn't something you could just write off as mere coincidence. From what you could tell no one who'd been at the precinct with you at the time had mentioned the incident to the Lieutenant. Which in the long term was probably for the best. Finding your soulmate just after losing your son was probably not what he needed to deal with at the same time. Then again it'd been several years since. But you could only have so much patience and compassion for his method of grieving. Sure he seemed to have gotten better after having Connor around, which left you feeling a mixture of both happy but.... bitter. It left a bad taste in your mouth that much was for certain. Though those feelings were more directed at Hank rather than towards the android. It wasn't his fault that Hank was a stubborn piece of work.

 

     While you'd been lost in your head the bus had filled up significantly with people who were gripping onto the handrails to keep upright. There was also someone in the seat beside you now. You observed them out of the corner of your eye but couldn't glean much about them. Appeared to be male in his late 20's- early 30's. Short brown hair sticking out from a knit beanie. It appeared to be a suit under the long brown coat and a briefcase sitting on their lap, so most likely an office worker of some kind. Could be at any of the buildings along the bus route so that didn't help much. Oh well, there was only so much you could glean from people from appearances alone.

 

     Speaking of buildings along the bus route your stop was coming up next. You pulled the string that hung by the side of the window to request a stop. The man beside you shuffled out of his seat to let you get out. He seemed to make a point of not looking at you, probably for the best. As you gently made your way to the back door the bus slowed to a stop and said door slid open with a hiss. You hopped out, forcing yourself to make sure not to call out a "Thank You" as you used to do before the auto-driving became a thing. Taking quick steps to keep up with the flow of pedestrians hustling you chanced a glance at your phone: 8:00 am. Still on time. Or at least as on time as you can ever be. Fowler gave you a little slack since you took the bus to and from work usually.

 

     As the familiar grey building of the Detroit Police Department came into view a sense of ease settled in your chest. Everything was fine. Nothing catastrophic had happened during the week you'd been gone. Taking the short jog up the stairs you strode through the entry doors. The warmer air of the precinct felt like a godsend to your chilly face and hands. Giving a quick wave and a smile to the lady android receptionist (one of these days you were going to have to figure out what her name was, she was too nice for you not to know it), you hurried through the security gate and into the bullpen. You could already spot a lot of the familiar faces already milling about and kicking off the morning shift as well as any other average Wednesday. The quiet chatter brought a gentle smile to your face as you made it to your desk.

 

    "Well aren't you a sight for sore eyes."

 

    Your eyes snapped up and immediately saw Chris Miller sitting at his desk across from yours. He was grinning and you felt your face splitting into one as well.

 

    "Good morning to you as well Miller." You set your bag down and start removing your coat.

 

    "So how was your little vacation? Cause let me tell ya, it sure as hell wasn't the same here without you." He gave you a playful wink.

 

    "Calm down there, you keep that up and you just might make me blush." A small laugh escaped you, it meant a lot to hear that honestly. You set your coat and scarf on the back of your chair. "But to answer your previous question: My week off was pretty boring. I mean it was good, got caught up on sleep and all, but yesterday especially I was just really restless to get back to work."

 

    "Well, there's definitely no shortage of work around here. But I'm glad to hear it was uneventful, you weren't looking too good before and now you're practically glowing in comparison."

 

    "All right all right, stand down marine." You roll your eyes, grin still very firmly in place in spite of Chris' antics. "I still need to get my morning coffee so I'll be back." You pointed at him in a playfully threatening manner.

 

    "Is that a promise or a threat?"

 

    "A bit of both."

 

    "Ooh, then I'll keep my wits about me, Ms. Special Ops." He managed to get out while chuckling.

 

    A small laugh escaped you as you turned and made your way to the Break Room, determined to get some kind of caffeine in you to really start the day. Chris always seemed to know how to bring a smile to your face while also knowing where all the boundaries were between the two of you. His wife was also incredibly nice. Whenever you've been in the presence of both of them at the same time you always felt a bit off-kilter internally but, hopefully successfully, played it off as nothing. Sometimes you got that feeling around Tina as well but only every now and again. It felt a lot like you kept waiting for the other shoe to drop in spite of the fact that you damn well knew that there was no other shoe to drop. Hell, you would've even liked to think of them as friends of a sort but it's not like you talked with any of them outside of work and work-related functions so it was hard to say. You shook the thoughts from your head, no time for idle thoughts, you needed to focus on getting coffee and then getting to work.

 

    The coffee pot was filled with freshly brewed coffee, a really good thing since it always tasted terrible after it had cooled later in the morning. You grabbed a styrofoam cup and filled it a little more than halfway with the dark liquid. Moving over to the fridge you grabbed the thing of creamer and poured in enough to fill the cup the rest of the way. After putting the creamer back you dumped in a few packets of sugar. Everyone should be able to indulge in a bit of sweetness every now and then, and your morning coffee is definitely where you got your daily dose from. The warmth that radiated from the cup felt incredible on your hands, though the coffee was still way too hot to drink just yet. The idea of burning your taste buds for the rest of the day was not very appealing.

 

    "Good morning, Lieutenant (y/n)."

 

    The sudden voice from behind made you nearly drop your coffee. You quickly looked behind you and saw Connor standing by the entryway of the break room with his hand raised in greeting. He had a polite smile, though something about him seemed...strained?

 

    "Good morning to you too, Connor. What can I do for ya?"

 

    "I was hoping I could ask for your assistance in gaining access to the Archives? Since the room needs a human to be able to enter and Lieutenant And- Hank, won't be in until later. Plus you and Hank are of the same rank meaning you would have the same level of access." He seemed sheepish as he asked, even going so far as to idly scratch at his cheek. It was rather endearing if you were being honest.

 

    "Yeah, I can help. It's only kind of my job to help others and what not."

 

     Connor gave you a grin that seemed genuinely grateful but also wobbled a little bit on the edges. It worried you but you let it slide; telling yourself if there actually was a problem Connor would tell you.

 

    "Thank you very much, Lieutenant. I appreciate it. So shall we?" He gestured towards the doorway.

 

    "Yep." You gave a nod and headed out and towards the doors to the Archives, Connor easily falling in step with you. You absentmindedly fiddled with the cup in your hands as you walked.

 

     “So how has Ha- Lieutenant Anderson been lately?” You glanced at the android out of the corner of your eye, lightly chiding yourself for your almost screw up.

 

     “Hank has been doing well as far as I am able to tell. He still drinks more than I would like and still refuses to come in early. But doing better than not coming in until the afternoon at least.” The fondness in his voice caused your gut to twist painfully. You could feel the words curdle and try to claw their way up your throat but you forced them back down.

 

    What can you expect from a man who can only find comfort from the bottom of a bottle, who refuses to actually talk about and deal with his grief. You shouldn’t get your hopes up, he’ll only drive you away by whatever means it takes.

 

    You instead forced your voice to at least seem amicable enough.

 

     “Well, I’m glad to hear he’s doing...better. How’ve the two of you been getting on then? Hopefully, there haven’t been any big issues between ya, especially considering his disposition on androids.”

 

     He paused almost in thought while you swiped your keycard. You opened the door as soon as you heard the confirmation beep and held it open for Connor. He walked through with a grateful nod and you followed after him down the stairs. You got a brief look at his LED as he passed, it was solid yellow. Anxiety crept up your spine as you both descended down the stairs. Your heart beats wildly in your chest leading you to pause midstep, one hand on the handrail.

 

    “Connor..?” He paused a few steps further down from you and looked back at you curiously. “If...if there’s something bad going on between you and Anderson..you know you can tell me right?”

 

    His eyebrows knit together and he tilted his head in confusion. The two of you stood looking at each other like that for a heavy second before Connor snapped to attention, realization dawning on his face.

 

    “Oh! Hank and I have been getting along just fine. My apologies, Lieutenant, for not responding to you earlier. I’m a bit preoccupied this morning...”

 

    You blinked once. Twice.

 

    “...By the case?”

 

    “By- um..yes. Yes, I’ve been lost in thought about the case.”

 

    He gave you a lopsided grin and you felt a laugh force itself out. Relief flooded through you. As you calmed down you took a big gulp of the coffee you’d been keeping hold of. The warm sweetness settled in your gut pleasantly and cleared the last bit of morning mental fog from your head. With a shake of your head, you continued the rest of the way down the stairs with Connor in tow.

 

    “Geez...keep up with that kind of behavior and you're going to take a few years off my life..” You muttered, mostly to Connor but also somewhat at yourself.

 

    “I will do better to pay attention in the future Lieutenant.”

 

    You waved him off, "Don't worry about it. It's honestly fine, I shouldn't have drawn such bad conclusions that quickly."

 

    He hummed in response as you moved your coffee cup to your right hand. Holding your left hand up against the hand scanner you waited for it to beep as well. The door slid open and Connor walked up to the panel, you following behind him wordlessly. You took another sip of your coffee and made a move to log into the system. The moment your hand was above the screen though Connor immediately grasped your wrist. You tried to flinch back unsuccessfully as your eyes snapped up to meet his.

 

    "Connor."

 

     The warning edge to your voice caused him to let go slowly. You raised an eyebrow in a silent question as he looked at you with concern in his gaze.

 

    "I'm sorry for lying Lieutenant. I needed to talk to you discreetly but didn't want to alarm you."

 

    "A little too late for that Connor, now what the fuck is going on?"

 

    "During the week that you were gone-"

 

    He stopped abruptly as you both heard footsteps coming down the stairs. You turned your head to see who it was and immediately felt your brain blue screen like an old windows computer. It was Connor, but not him at the same time. You kept staring at the android look-alike and didn't even flinch as the styrofoam cup slipped from your hand, spilling the rest of your coffee on the ground. He looked at the two of you and came to stand in the doorway, hands behind his back.

 

    "So this is where you got to Lieutenant (y/l/n). I-"

 

    "Hold that thought for a moment please." You held up a hand to make your point, your mind working on overdrive to try and play catch up with the situation.

 

    You turned and grabbed Connor's elbow and dragged him to one of the furthest corners in the room, knowing full well that the other android would still be able to hear you but the point still stood.

 

    "Now would you kindly explain to me why you have a goddamned doppelganger and why the fuck he is here of all places."

 

    "Both of these questions are what I was attempting to tell you about, Lieutenant. He's an RK900, an upgraded version of my model RK800."

 

    You nodded slowly. "Oookay.."

 

    "He arrived at the precinct during the week that you were gone and is currently assigned as Detective Reed's partner. But as to why he is down here you would have to ask him yourself."

 

    You stared at the wall for a moment before pinching the bridge of your nose. Agitation nipped along just beneath your skin. Gathering yourself with a deep breath you turned back towards the RK900. He was still in the exact same place in the doorway calmly looking at both Connor and you. You rolled your shoulders back and took one last steadying breath before walking back over to the other android.

 

    "Sorry about.. all of that. Just caught me way off guard I guess. So let's try again," You held out your right hand, "I'm Lieutenant (y/n) (y/l/n) and it's a pleasure to be working with you."

 

    He merely glanced at your hand before giving you what could maybe be considered an attempt at a smile.

 

    "Hello, Lieutenant (y/l/n). I looked for you upstairs before Officer Miller directed me here. Captain Fowler wants to speak to both you and me in his office, so we should proceed quickly so as to not keep him waiting any more than we already have."

 

    You awkwardly lowered your hand.

 

    "Um..okay then. After you I guess.."

 

    He nodded and turned to go but then immediately paused mid-step.

 

    “By the way Connor, Detective Anderson arrived five minutes ago and was asking for your whereabouts.”

 

    “Thank you Nines. I’ll head up in just a few moments.”

 

    “Do as you wish brother.”

 

    Then the RK900 walked away and back upstairs without even so much as a glance back. You ran your hand through your hair as you huffed. As you turned to say a brief word to Connor your eyes caught on the brown puddle that had been your morning coffee.

 

    "Shit."

 

    "Don't worry about the coffee Lieutenant, I've already informed the cleaning staff. You should hurry on to see Captain Fowler."

 

    You gave him a quick smile, "Okay, thanks Connor. And best of luck with whatever work you got today with Lieutenant Anderson."

 

    "Good luck with your own work today Lieutenant (y/l/n)."

 

    He gave you a polite smile before you turned and made your way back upstairs. For a deviant android he still seemed so overly polite, maybe he was only that way with you though. Either way. Here's hoping that Fowler only wanted to see you for just a general check-in type of meeting. Though the fact that he wanted to see both you and Nines was concerning. You shook your head as you reached the top of the stairs. Best not to dwell on it and unnecessarily work yourself into an anxious mess.

 

    Squaring your shoulders you made your way to Fowler's office. As you round the corner you see Nines waiting at the bottom of the stairs for you. He barely glances at you as you pass by and follows closely behind you up the small set of stairs and through the office's glass door. Fowler looked up from his computer as the two of you entered, the corner of his mouth quirked up in a small smile.

 

    "(Y/n), welcome back. Good to see your doing better after your break."

 

    "Thanks, Fowler. It's definitely good to be back all things considered."

 

    "Good, good. Well, I had the two of you come in cause I've got a case that needs special attention and Hank's already busy handling another investigation that came in recently."

 

    You nodded slowly. "Alright... and by 'the two of you' you mean-"

 

    "Yourself and the RK900 standing behind you there. He's going to be your temporary partner for the investigation, got any problems with that?"

 

    "Nope, no problems sir. Just wanted to be clear on that is all I guess."

 

    "I thought as much. You'll find the details for the case at your desk and I expect to see a report of some kind on my desk before the day is up understood?"

 

    "Heard ya loud and clear, Captain. I'll get right to it then."

 

    He made a noise of acknowledgment as he turned back to his work monitor. You turned and waved for Nines to follow you out of the room. He probably would've followed you regardless but it just felt rude to expect that of another person, even if the other was a highly specialized android. So you made your way through the bullpen back to your desk, Nines easily keeping up just a few steps behind. Gavin seemed to give you the stink eye from his desk on the other side of the room from you as you sat down at your own desk. Just as you logged in Nines' hand came into view, and as the synthetic skin pulled back with a blue glow he placed his hand on the screen. Next thing you knew a shit ton of files and cases flashed by on the screen.

 

    "Whoa whoa whoa what the fuck-!"

 

    "I've finished downloading the data we'll need. We can proceed to the crime scene now, Lieutenant."

 

    You stared at him as he drew his hand back and clasped it behind his back, turning in your chair so you were facing him as he stood on the other side of your desk. You slowly blinked once.

 

    "I'll just repeat myself. What the fuck was all that about?"

 

    "There is no need for us to wait here while you review the details as I can inform you of them as we head over to the crime scene."

 

    You pinched the bridge of your nose and took a deep breath. Don't get angry at the android, it'll do you no good. It's like getting mad at a dog when it's just trying it's best. You hold up your hands in exasperation.

 

    "Alright fine then. Let me grab my coat and whatnot and then we can get going."

 

    You could feel the happy pride radiating off him.

 

    "Excellent. We'll be going over to the Farly Apartment Complex over by the Detroit Urban Farms."

 

    "Oh joy. So we should probably call a taxi unless your fine walking that far?"

 

    You got up and wrapped your scarf tight around your neck before starting to put your arms through your coat sleeves.

 

    "I am capable of walking hundreds of miles before I would require rest, Lieutenant."

 

    You pulled your coat on and straightened the front of it.

 

    "So walking it is then I guess."

 

    After zipping up your coat you made sure you had your phone, wallet, and keys on you. With that, the two of you wordlessly headed out of the precinct and started the 20-minute trek to the apartment complex.

 

     The first half of the trip was spent with Nines giving you the details. The victim was one Antonio Taylor, male, age 37 and found dismembered after multiple reports of a rotting smell coming from the apartment. He had a number of crimes on record such as possession and distribution of Red Ice, assault and battery, and a few other minor noise complaints. He had no surviving family or relatives to contact or at least none that could be found at this time, and no significant other on record. A few stray android components were also found at the scene along with some pretty hefty stores of thirium. Not much else could be discerned due to the haphazard state of the apartment. Thus why Nines had been assigned to assist, human eyes wouldn't be enough to figure out what exactly happened here. His words, not yours.

 

    The rest of the trip was mostly spent in silence after that. It was a rather awkward silence in all honestly. So you decided to try and break it.

 

    "So uh...Nines huh? You happy with that name?"

 

    Wow. Great conversation starter (y/n). Great start.

 

    "I have no feelings either way on the matter. If others are more comfortable with calling me 'Nines' as opposed to 'RK900' then so be it."

 

    "Oh."

 

    "You seem unsatisfied with my answer Lieutenant (y/l/n)."

 

    "I wouldn't say that... I dunno..I just- Nines just seems like a kinda copout way to name you. And RK900 just sounds so....impersonal and unnecessarily formal. Kinda like you calling me Lieutenant (y/l/n) all the time.."

 

    Then it felt like a lightbulb went off in your head.

 

    "So how 'bout this, if I can come up with a name you like you have to start calling me (y/n)?"

 

    All you get from him at first is a quiet hum of acknowledgment.

 

    "Very well."

 

    "Great! Then it's a deal."

 

    Now you just had to come up names for him. Though that would have to wait till after the crime scene since it sounded like it was going to require you firing on all cylinders if you wanted to find out what happened.

 

~.~.~.~.~.~.~

    After walking for a few more minutes you made it to the apartments. Collins met you out front and showed you the way, giving you pretty much the same rundown that Nines had given you earlier. Though Collins seemed way reluctant to go back into the room so he handed you the keys and said he'd just wait outside. Which honestly, you couldn't blame the guy. You could already get a whiff of something awful coming from the cordoned off apartment.

    The first thing you noticed upon entering room 23B was the smell. It was a mixture of disinfectant and bleach overlapping with the rusty tang of old blood and the gut-churning stench of rotting flesh. A flash of old squadmates flashed through your mind briefly before you forced yourself to focus. No time for that. Not right now. As soon as you got yourself together you looked around what had probably once been the living room. Calling the state of the place 'haphazard' was one hell of an understatement. The place practically looked like a war zone. Probably had been in some sense. Furniture was scattered and upturned every which way, there was shattered glass strewn about along with papers with illegible scrawling on it. The remains of Antonio Taylor had been strewn about in a manner similar to that of the furniture, albeit with a lot more blood stains showing the trajectory the limbs had taken. You tried to not look too closely at the pieces as soon as you saw that the limbs were the source of the rotting smell, bones protruding out where it was clear to see the limb had been torn off from the main body. It was all a little bit overwhelming to the point where you didn't even know where to begin looking. Nines seemed like he was in a similar situation for a brief second before moving further into the apartment.

    With a shaky breath, you rolled up your metaphorical sleeves and decided to start in looking at the papers that were strewn about, pointedly ignoring what you assumed were the remains of the victim. Not a lot of people kept actual physical documents much anymore, instead preferring to have it all digitized and kept safe that way. You kneeled down and started taking a cursory glance over the papers nearest you, doing your best to avoid having to pick them up unless it was necessary to do so. From what you could tell a lot of them were either copies of email chains or invoices of some kind, for what goods exactly it was hard to tell. As you were halfway through one such weirdly worded invoice Nines makes his way back to the living room and approaches you, though you were only really half aware of his presence.

     “Lieutenant (y/l/n).”

     “I thought I told you to call me (y/n)?”

     “That was under the condition you found a suitable name for me.”

     “Oh. Right.”

     “Regardless, there appear to be traces of varying amounts of thirium from different models throughout the apartment. It will take me a little bit of time to work through all of them. In the meantime please do be careful not to disturb evidence.”

 

     You give him a mock salute as you set the paper back where you picked it up from, maybe it wasn't exactly where it had been but it was close enough.

     "So how many kinds of models we talking here? 10? 20? 30?"

    "I have identified 37 different model types. As for the number of individuals in total, I've yet to determine."

    You hummed in thought.

    "What're the odds it was one of Antonio's intended victims that killed him instead?"

    Nines stayed silent for a full minute in thought, you looked over at him concerned that maybe you might've broken the android. His eyes were visibly twitching ever so slightly until he blinked a few times. A frown twitched at the corner of his mouth, or at least the corner that you could see since he was turned mostly away from you.

    "Based on current evidence found the possibility for your theory is 86.5% probable."

     “Wow only 86% huh. What’s acting to the contrary?”

     “There is no reason it could not have been human involvement.”

     “True. He doesn’t seem the type who hung out with the most savory of individuals if his records are anything to go by...”

    Nines didn't even glance at you before going back to look around the rest of the apartment. You gently rose from where you'd been kneeling, your knees sore and aching already, and moved to follow Nines in exploring the scene further to get a better understanding of what happened. Maneuvering around the furniture and stepping over a strewn foot you made it to the kitchen. There were dirty dishes, takeout containers, pizza boxes, and beer bottles on just about every available flat surface. It brought back faint memories of how Hank's place had been the first month after Cole's death before he'd moved to a new home that is. You pushed those thoughts back into the box they came from before they could go into bad places. The kitchen didn't seem to hold anything of interest to the case so you moved on to where the bedrooms would theoretically be.

     You saw Nines enter the room through the first door on the left so you entered the room on the right. Immediately you paused in the doorway. There were android limbs strung along the walls and hanging from the ceiling. It was possible the room was covered in thirium but you couldn't see it. Your hand unconsciously drifted to your prosthetic arm. It's not the worst thing you've ever come across at a crime scene but the brutality of it didn't pass you by in the slightest. As you glanced around your eyes caught on something peculiar on a leg that was pinned to the wall, the bright color that stuck out in sharp contrast to the pale white of the android limb. Gingerly stepping into the room and towards the back corner where the leg was, you got a better look at what the bright color was.

     It. It looked like a soul mark. You gently traced the outline of it. It was a soul mark. It was the name 'Gwyn' in bright sky blue curly letters. You took a closer look at the various arms, legs, feet, hands, and heads and found that all of them had soul marks. It hadn't even crossed your mind before that androids were also capable of having soul mates. You thwacked your forehead with the palm of your hand. Of course, they can have soul mates as well, it would only make sense for that to be the case. But why keep these pieces specifically? Is it because they're the pieces that bore a soul mark? Were these androids killed because of their soul marks? If not then why kill them? Is this why Antonio was killed by whomever? Or was there another reason? What happened to the thirium that would've been in all of these androids? All the unanswered questions were making your head spin. This was already getting more and more complicated by the minute. You would probably have better luck asking Nines thoughts on these questions, that's, of course, assuming he hasn't already figured all of this out.

     As you turned to leave the room to go find your android partner something about the closet screamed for you to check it out. Usually, it was good to listen to such detective instincts, even if it turns up nothing so you did just that. You steeled yourself for just about anything and swiftly opened up the closet door. The sight that greeted you made you want to retch right then and there. There were tools for soldering and welding but they were of minor consequence. What well and truly made your gut clench was the dried rusty blood and bits of skin and sinewy muscle that clung to the saws. You forced yourself to swallow the spit that'd gathered in your mouth and unclenched your hand from the doorknob of the closet.

    "N-...Nines...?" You just barely managed to choke the name out.

    No response.

    You clear your throat and try again, doing your best to keep calm.

    "Hey, Nines! Think I've got something here."

    Finally, you hear the padded footfalls of your partner making their way over to you. You tear your eyes away from the grisly saws and take a generous step back as you see Nines pause in the doorway, much like you had when you'd first entered. His eyes quickly scan over the room before meeting with your own and then his gaze immediately goes to the open closet. As he came over he peered past the open door and you watched as he calmly looked at the tool closet, most likely scanning for clues of any kind. It took maybe only a few seconds before he hummed and turned to look at you.

    "I believe I know what happened now, Lieutenant (y/l/n)."

    You raised an eyebrow in question but nodded before gesturing for him to go on.

    "Alright, I'm all ears."

    He gave a short jerky nod before walking out to the living room where you followed him and he started into recounting the events of the murder.

    The victim, Antonio Taylor had been in the business of taking and dismantling android models to sell. The thirium from the androids was most likely drained after death had occurred and sold to red ice makers. What bio-components couldn't be sold will most likely be found either in the urban farm or in a nearby junkyard. His latest victim was a WR600 who had been reported missing one week ago by its employers at the Detroit Urban Farm. The WR600 was most likely able to break out of the restraints Antonio had used on his prior victims and used the human's own tools to chop him up, in much the same manner as he had done to the other androids. The scuffle between the two was what led to the chaotic state of the apartment living room and the victim’s body. The tools were put away by the WR600 who most likely left the apartment after the altercation to someplace safe since the WR600 had yet to be seen since its reported disappearance.

     As Nines talked through it he directed you to the pieces of evidence throughout the apartment that led to this conclusion. The one of biggest note was a notebook filled with notes that seemed to have been written down by Antonio detailing the androids he kidnapped and dismantled like some sort of torture porn. Though it was easy to see that the most recent pages had been ripped out and the last entry had been written a month ago. It was enough to be able to rule this out as straight up murder and rather as a case of self-defense. Though the legality of cases involving android crimes was still under upheaval after the revolution. Whatever. This case was an instance of self-defense as far as you were concerned and that’s how you were going to write it up in your report.

     Honestly, the whole thing sent sickly chills down your spine. Who the hell thought this kind of thing was justifiable? The obvious answer was that these were people who saw androids as nothing more than machines. If this was indeed connected to a red ice ring then that would make this case a whole lot trickier than it already was. You shake yourself from these thoughts, best to focus on the here and now rather than get caught up in possible future events.

     “Well alright then. Suppose that means we now have a rogue android on our hands... Any clues as to where we should start looking?”

     At first, Nines just quirks an eyebrow before looking at you like you’d just asked the world’s stupidest question. Which you probably had going by his inhumanely exacting standards. Yes, you were still holding his earlier comment against him. Human eyes wouldn’t be enough. C’mon man.

     “Unfortunately, the thirium trails are too mixed up and there are no active signs as to which way the WR600 went to.” He seemed begrudging to admit this seeming personal failing.

      You shrugged, somewhat bemused by his frustration and made the decision to call it quits for now.

      “Well, we’ve found all we’re going to find here then so we’d best head back rather than burn ourselves out. Make sure we mark down the evidence that needs to be brought in to the station. Besides...more than anything else, the smell is definitely starting to get to me.”

      The metallic smell of blood and rot was going to linger about you for a while you were sure. Ugh. Not even a long shower was going to fix that.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~

     Before the two of you headed out you talked to Collins about the evidence to be collected and said you’d see him later back at the precinct. So after that was taken care of it was a quiet walk back. Nines really wasn’t the chatty type, which was probably for the best but it also made trips like this a bit seemingly awkward. Well now was as good a time as any to ask some of the questions that were bothering you before.

      “So uh..that was some pretty gnarly stuff. You doing okay?”

      “I don’t see anything about it that should have perturbed me at the scene no.”

      “Oh. Okay. Fair enough I suppose.”

      A beat of silence as you mulled over a new tactic.

      “Did you notice the soul marks on all those android pieces?”

      “...What of them Lieutenant?”

      So he had noticed them. But he also sounded tense as soon as you brought it up.

      “Why do you think he kept those parts? It just seems like a weird thing to keep.”

      “Perhaps he considered them as trophies of a sort. The way they were strung up about the room would certainly suggest as much.”

      “That’s true... God, that’s just sickening honestly. Antonio Taylor, I am not sad you have departed from this world.”

      You could feel the bewildered look Nines shot your way almost immediately.

      “He was clearly an awful human being who quite obviously doesn’t deserve sympathy from me. And yes, by and large, it’s because of how he tortured those androids and then even wrote it down in such excruciating detail in that journal of his. Thus I’m not sorry to see him go cause clearly he had it coming to him.”

      You stuffed your hands in your coat pockets with a huff, feeling as though that was the final word on the matter. Though maybe you got a little overly defensive there. That train of thought was interrupted as the smell of something really good filled your nose, which led to your stomach angrily reminding you that you haven’t had anything other than half a cup of coffee today. Maybe it was time to stop for food. It might not have been an all-encompassing solution to your mood, but it’d be a start. Really should’ve grabbed something to eat before now, or at least before going to a crime scene. What a rookie mistake honestly. Though you probably would've just thrown it up if you were being honest with yourself.

      Wordlessly you made a sharp right around the corner rather than cross the street, making a beeline towards what looked like a family diner. You vaguely heard Nines call your name in confusion but he followed you nonetheless. You didn't say another word until the two of had made it inside the warm diner and the smell of food made your mouth water. The hostess greeted you as the two of you walked in, though her smile seemed to tighten upon seeing Nines but you chose to ignore that.

    "What can I do for you today?"

    "Table for two please?" You held two fingers up, giving her a polite smile.

    She looked down at the book at her podium and glanced around the diner before nodding and grabbing some menus.

    "Right this way. If you'll just follow me."

    So the two of you did and were seated in a booth. As the hostess left you sat down and removed your coat and scarf, Nines hesitantly sat down across from you.

    "Sorry about just making taking off to come here. Haven't eaten yet today is all."

    You gave Nines a sheepish apology smile before picking up the menu to see if there was anything particularly interesting that stuck out to you. You checked your phone: 10:06 am. No new notifications. Well, that meant that breakfast items were off the table. Hashbrowns would've honestly been great right about now too. Damn. Probably just go with a burger and fries then. That was the easiest option honestly. You were about to ask Nines what he was going to get but then caught yourself, your mouth hanging open in an ‘o’. He looked at you quizzically before you shook your head.

      “Was about to ask you what you were gonna get then realized how dumb a question that was.”

      “Ah. Well, I suppose the thought was considerate enough Lieutenant.”

      “Thanks..? I think.”

     He gave you the smallest hint of a smile. It softened his otherwise rather passive face. Maybe he just had a resting bitch face. Could androids even have that? Although it wasn’t so much resting bitch face per se but there wasn’t really a better name for it that you could think of. Oh right! Names! Names to replace the name ‘Nines’. Just as that thought cropped up the server came over, a guy with long white hair who was probably in his 20’s or possibly early 30’s.

    "So have we decided on what we want to order?"

    "Um, yep."

    "Alright, what can I get for you then?"

    "I'd like to get a Classic Burger, medium rare, with a side of fries and a coke to drink, please."

    He easily wrote it down and then looked back at you.

    "Will that be all?"

    "Unless you have something thirium based for my friend here then that'll be all."

    "I'm afraid we don't, no. So I'll just get this order in and be back with your drink shortly."

    "Alright."

    With that, he grabbed the menus from the table and walked off. You propped your head up with your arm on the table. Now that you think of it you recall the red 'No Androids Allowed' sign hanging up on the door of the diner. You'd think that would be illegal by now but you suppose it might still take a while yet if history was anything to go by. Wonder why they didn't say anything? You were pulled out of thoughts by Nines placing his folded hands on the table.

    "If I may say, Lieutenant, you seem awfully comfortable working with an android."

    You were a little thrown of but shrugged nonetheless.

    "Probably just cause of my time abroad if I had to guess. Just got more experience working with y'all than most of the others at the precinct. Why?"

    "Just an observation. Everyone's stress levels always seem to go up whenever I am around and yet you seem perfectly comfortable. It is..a nice difference."

    That got a warm chuckle out of you.

    "Well, you're welcome I guess."

    Looking at him, he looked almost a little bit embarrassed but that little smile was still there which brought a smile to your own features. It was comforting that at least one of the two RK boys at the precinct was able to be themselves around you.

    "Would you like to go over what we know about this case so far?"

    You sat back and waved your hand. "Sure, please do."

    "We know that Antonio Taylor was kidnapping and dismantling androids from off the street. His targets were premeditated though the exact reasoning we have yet to place. We know this due to the, rather thorough, record he kept in his journal. He would sell the various parts from the androids to the black market and sold the collected thirium to known Red Ice dealers. Though he never used actual names in any of his records so we have no real immediate follow-ups to that end."

    Nines paused as the sever dropped off your coke, which you thanked him for. You took a sip immediately as Nines continued with his explanation.

     "For one reason or another, he kept pieces of androids that bore a soul mark, whether that was of his own volition or not has yet to be seen, but I'm sure if we look up whom these parts once belonged to we will gain another piece of the puzzle. So that could provide us one kind of lead. Though our only real loose end is the escaped WR600 who should still be somewhere within Detroit."

    "So we should make sure we send out an ABP on our missing WR600 once we get back. Though I doubt she'll just be walking around in broad daylight with her work uniform on."

    "I can just send out an ABP now Lieutenant. Save us some time and get the word out earlier."

    "I guess you probably could yeah...Though before you do that, could you humor me for a second?"

    He raised an eyebrow at you, confused by the question. It had been worded weirdly.

    "What kind of case do you see this incident as? I ask because I know what I think it looks like but I want to know what you honestly believe it is."

    "It looks like a case of manslaughter wherein an android killed a human."

    "Is that all?"

    He frowned.

    "What do  _you_  see this case as then?"

    "I asked you first."

    "And I answered. Now it's your turn."

    You rolled your eyes with a sigh.

    "Fine. I think it's a case of self-defense on the WR600's part."

    "Androids don't have the legal standing for it to be considered self-defense."

    "I don't know if you've noticed Nines, but the justice system is still in the middle of major upheaval and reform. Androids have just as many rights as humans as far as I'm concerned."

    He stares at you keeping his face carefully blank.

    "It seems I made a mistake in assuming you'd be similar to Detective Reed."

    "I'm going to assume that's a good thing."

    That tiny smirk appeared once more.

    "It is."

    Just as that interaction ended, your server returned bearing your food. He set it down in front of you before making a hasty retreat, not even saying a word to either you nor your tablemate. Weird. As you looked at your food it really hit you just how hungry you were. God, it was mouth watering good. You made to grab and pick up the burger but Nines stopped you.

    "I wouldn't eat that if I were you, Lieutenant."

    "Why not?"

     You felt a bit like a petulant child being told no for the first time. Were you pouting? You might've been pouting ever so slightly.

    "The burger is severely undercooked and would result in bad food poisoning. Shall I list the symptoms of that for you?"

    "No. Nonono that won't be necessary, Nines. Uggghh.."

    You poked at the bun, disappointed. What the hell guys. You just wanted to be able to get something to eat but noooo.

    "Are the fries still good or are those garbage too?"

    "The fries are fine as far as I can tell."

    "Oh thank god."

    With that, you quickly started in on the fried potatoes. After the first couple of mouthfuls, you slowed down to a more reasonable pace that wasn't 'devour everything all at once'. You really needed to think of names for Nines.

     Conan? Too close to Connor for your liking.

     Richard? Nickname would be Dick which Reed would definitely not miss an opportunity to joke about.

    Nines. Niles? Similar to Nines. Could be good cause it'd be an easy transition. Nothing really bad about it sticks out to you. After swallowing the french fries you'd been munching on you voice this to the android across from you.

    "How do you feel about the name Niles?"

    He looks at you blankly, most likely considering the name. You could see his LED spinning, turning yellow for a brief moment before it returned back to that steady blue.

    "I take it this wasn't your first thought for a name?"

    "No, just the one that I think we'll come with the least caveats overall and still sounds nice."

    "Very well, (y/n)."

    You grinned excitedly as soon as you realized he'd called you by your name.

    "Yes!"

    You clapped your hands together and you heard Niles quietly chuckle at your excitement.

 

~.~.~.~.~.~.~

    After that you paid and left the server with a small warning, "You might want to inform your bosses that I'll be making a report to the Detroit Health Department about this diner serving it's patrons undercooked meat. Especially when they try to give food poisoning to an Officer of the DPD."

    And then the two of you left, walking the rest of the way back to the station in companionable silence. Or at the very least you were comfortable with it. It was rather hard to tell with Niles. Though you supposed he probably was comfortable with it given what he'd said at the diner. Like being a lot better than Gavin and also that he was glad to be in your company. That last bit was one hell of a compliment that brought a smile to your face.

      When the two of you finally made it back to the precinct it was 11:23 am. Upon entering the bullpen with Niles on your heels you noted Hank talking with Connor over at their desks. Hank looked like he was doing well, better even if you were being honest. Though it would be best to not pay those two much mind right now. Because now there was still more work to be done. So you made a beeline for your desk, removing your coat and scarf before draping them over your chair.

    "Alright, Niles. I'm sure your familiar enough with writing up reports so I'll leave you to that. However, if you get a moment I'd like it if you could write up your current working theories for this case on a separate document so I can go over it later?"

    "Is that not what the report is for?"

    "I mean it is yeah. But this way I can just have what I need out of there immediately and kept all in one place."

    "Very well."

    He seemed rather bemused as he turned and walked back over to his own desk across from Gavin. Then you settled in at your own desk and got to work writing your own report immediately while the details were still clear in your mind. Miller knew how you were when it came to casework so he didn't even try to bother talking to you, instead focusing on his own busy work. When Niles made it over to his desk, Gavin's voice carried across the room but you didn't even notice what with how engrossed you already were. Connor paid attention though.

    "Oh great, you came back," Gavin sarcastically called out as Niles approached. "So how was tagging along with our leading lady?"

    Niles sat down at this desk, smile still playing at the corners of his mouth.

    "Working with (y/n) thus far has been a pleasant experience. She's incredibly intuitive and has a keen eye for finding and putting together evidence to figure out what happened."

    "Well, it's good to hear she hasn't lost her edge then. Been practically chained to her desk the last few years cause of our local incompetent drunkard leaving her on administrative duty. Which reminds me actually-"

    Gavin made to turn around like he was going to make another jabbing jeer at Lieutenant Anderson or Connor.

    "She also gave me a name."

    That made Gavin turn back around, side-eyeing Niles.

     “....What?”

     “The Lieutenant gave me the new designation of Niles.”

     The detective stared at the android, unimpressed.

     “Well, that sounds like a stupid name.”

     “It sounds no more stupid than the name Gavin if you ask me, Detective Reed.”

     “Wha- Yo- You fucking little plastic shithead..!” Gavin exclaimed as he abruptly stood up while Niles remained calmly seated across from him.

     “Perhaps next time you’ll think twice before making fun of another person’s name.”

     The exchange made Connor huff out a laugh in amusement. It was good to hear that Nine- Niles, he corrected himself, was getting along with the people here at the precinct, especially Lieutenant (y/l/n). Connor’s little chuckle had been enough to pull Hank’s attention away from the myriad of android-related crime reports that the two of them had been sifting through.

     “What’s got you looking so dopey now Con?”

     “Just glad to see that Lieutenant (y/l/n) and Niles are able to work rather well together.”

     At Hank’s raised brow he clarified.

     “Niles being the RK900 who joined us earlier this week.”

    "(Y/n) got assigned an android partner now?" Hank leaned back in his chair shaking his head exasperated. "Geez, I get that we're getting up there in age but come on."

    "I do not believe age had anything to do with Niles, nor my own assignment, to either of you two. Besides, from what I understand he's only temporarily being assigned as the Lieutenant's partner for the new case they've been given."

    "And how do you know that?"

    "I asked Niles."

    "..Ah."

    Hank turned back to his monitor to get back to work. Just as Connor was about to do the same an errant observation occurred to him. He turned back to his partner, curiosity getting the better of him.

    "You referred to Lieutenant (y/l/n) as (y/n), are the two of you close?"

    Hank seemed to choke and sputter on nothing, seeming particularly flustered by what Connor had asked.

    "What?! No! I mean..," He cleared his throat before starting again. "We kind of were at one point. But we haven't talked much over the last few years..."

     Hank glanced forlornly towards where you sat, working away steadily just like always.

    "Why not?"

    A heavy sigh escaped him before he answered.

    "Pretty sure she hates me for something I did after Cole, wouldn't blame her if she did."

    "You should try talking to her then if you don't actually know."

    "Hah! Yeah no. That's not gonna happen."

    "Hank.."

    "Drop it and get back to work already."

    The warning tone of his voice was enough for Connor to back down for now.

    "Very well."

    He made a show of turning back to his monitor and interfacing with it but left it only at that. The way the two of you seemed to dance around one another as topics was something that piqued Connor's interest. The two of you seemed to legitimately care about each other in some manner aside from just in the professional sense. You danced around it in a far subtler way though, but from what Connor could tell it wasn't because you hated Hank. You had genuinely wanted to know how Hank had been doing earlier that morning. Maybe you were somewhat bitter or heavily bothered about something involving Hank in the past, but you didn't hate him. That much Connor was certain of. If he wanted to get to the bottom of this he'd need help. He wasn't really all that close with you, unfortunately.

    But Niles seemed to be. As soon as that thought occurred to him he immediately got in contact with his counterpart.

     _Niles!_

     _Yes, Connor?_

_I need your help with something._

_Oh, is that all?_

_Don't be mean. I need you to help me get the Lieutenants back on speaking terms again._

_Why?_

_Because if the two of them were able to be amicable around one another it would mean a more unified work environment. And a more unified work environment would mean better work would be done. Even Detective Reed would focus more on his work and less on antagonizing others._

_..._

_Niles?_

_I'm thinking._

_Pleeeeeaaaasssee!_

_...Very well._

_Yes!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first chapter wasn't very Hank-centric and I apologize for that; this was more of a setup chapter so he'll be making more of an appearance in the next one. I can't promise a steady upload schedule but I will try my best! The next chapter also shouldn't be as long (at least from what I can tell from the planning stage xP ) so it shouldn't take as long to write as this first chapter did.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed this nonetheless though~


	2. Android Intervention Required

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's time for some Hank appearances, some weird ass dreams, and a few android caused shenanigans.
> 
> Hope you enjoy c:

    Over the course of the last few days, things continued about the same. You'd get up, go to work, converse with Niles about the case, check out a few past crime cases that had a strong possibility of being related, and then calling it a day after writing up a couple of reports. You still hadn't gotten any farther with locating the WR600 so that meant Niles and you had to see about following up on the drug ring aspect of the case. Though both Connor and Niles have been acting... weird lately. Well weird in comparison to their normal behaviors. At first, you attributed it to some sort of social meshing protocol still learning and adapting but the fact that the behaviors continued seemed to prove otherwise.

 

    Niles' questions were innocent enough at first, albeit a bit stiff and awkward. Very pointed questions such as 'What do you think of Lieutenant Anderson?' turned to 'Perhaps we should consider discussing the case with Lieutenant Anderson? He has a lot of experience with red ice rings and could help to steer us in the right direction.' He had terrible timing for his questions since it was either as soon as you got into the precinct or in the middle of you filling out paperwork. It had even led to you choking on your coffee at least once. You didn't really want to answer most of his questions so you gave half-hearted answers such as 'He's good at what he does.' and 'He's busy with his own work and we shouldn't burden him with ours.' Niles was not amused by your answers but when he tried to push you for more you immediately shut down the conversation.

 

    Connor's questions, however, were always a lot more roundabout and subtle. The best example of this was what happened yesterday morning. Connor asked for you to go retrieve the physical file folder for a case from a few months back. He explained that he couldn't go due to the archives still requiring human prints and the proper ID to enter, plus Hank still needed him up here in the bullpen. So you acquiesced to his request and deftly retrieved the files. Though when you'd returned to the bullpen, Connor was nowhere in sight so you were forced to drop the file off at Hank's desk yourself. So you simply set it down by his elbow with a polite, "Here's the Fisher case file, Lieutenant Anderson." You then walked back to your desk and got back to work without so much as a glance back towards the man.

 

    It was pretty clear after that incident that the two androids were trying to orchestrate situations where you had to interact with Hank. Or something to that effect. You were going to have to talk with the two boys about why they needed to cut it out. Though that was probably going to force you to talk about why they couldn't in depth and that was a lot of stuff you weren't necessarily ready to talk about just yet.

 

    Thankfully today had been pretty uneventful overall. Niles had been out with Gavin on a case all of today. Connor had been in and out with Hank throughout the day as well. So because you still hadn't gotten a return on the APB you spent the entirety of the day pouring over the list of old cases Niles and you had compiled in terms of similarities to your current case. But you'd been so absorbed in your work that you hadn't even noticed how much time had passed until you finally looked at the time. 10:30 pm. Which meant you'd just missed the last bus that went by your apartment.

 

    "Shit.." You hissed under your breath as you ran a hand through your hair.

 

    Technically you could pay for a cab to take you home, but that would mean having to dip into either rent or food money for the month. Fuck it. You'll just walk. Something something exercise is good for you something something. So you made sure your report for the day was submitted properly before logging off your terminal. Niles could take a look at it on his own time if he wished. Then grabbing your coat and bag, you got all your stuff on as needed to leave the precinct and face the chilly winter night air.

 

     You paused as you noticed that Lieutenant Anderson was also still here. And it looked like he was just finishing up work as well. Maybe you could... No. No. Bad idea. That is one extremely awkward car ride that you did not want to deal with right now. Chris had already left for the evening and so had Tina. Hell, you'd probably even accept a ride home from Gavin at this point but he had also headed home hours ago after finally coming back with Niles. So yeah, walking it was going to have to be. You double-checked your pockets to make sure you had your phone and keys handy and once you happily found that they were you made your way towards the exit to begin the trek home.

 

     "Are you heading home, Lieutenant (y/l/n)?"

 

     You caught yourself on the doorframe out of the bullpen and turned to see Connor looking at you curiously. You nodded.

 

     "Yeah, got a little too caught up in work so it's gonna be a hell of a time getting home.."

 

     "It is quite late. Don't you normally commute using the public bus system?"

 

     "I do yeah. Why?"

 

     "Most of the routes have stopped running at this point in the evening. Will you be able to get home?"

 

     He looked genuinely worried about you and you just felt embarrassed. Maybe you should think about driving again. Maybe that's a thought for another time.

 

     "I um... Well not by bus no. Though it's not really that terribly far of a walk and I'm-"

 

     "Bullshit it's not that far of a walk!" You flinched at the tone of annoyance in Hank's voice as he interjected. "You aren't seriously going to try and walk home are ya?"

 

     You could feel your face flush as you peered around Connor to look at the man. "I'm perfectly able to walk home just fine Anderson. Besides I could do with the exercise."

 

     The look of disbelief on Hank’s face could not have been any clearer. But you were stubborn damnit. You'd already made your decision and you were going to stick with it or so help you!

 

     "Are you quite sure you'll be able to get home safely? Things have been rather hectic lately and it would be a heavy loss if something were to happen to you."

 

    That made your resolve falter ever so slightly. The need to not be a burden on others, however, overrode that. You heaved a sigh.

 

    "I hear where you're coming from Connor but I'm quite capable of taking care of myself. Besides it's not like I have any other option available."

 

    Just as Connor was about to protest your response, Hank interjected once more.

 

    "I'll drive you home."

 

    "Anderson I couldn't-"

 

    "You can and will. So come sit your ass down and wait the few minutes it'll take for me to finish this damned report."

 

    You stood there flabbergasted for a brief moment before Connor placed a hand on your shoulder. Glancing at him you sigh once more, your shoulders slumping in defeat, before begrudgingly allowing yourself to be guided over to where Connor's desk was and sat down in his chair to wait. It vaguely occurred to you that there was a high chance that neither Niles nor Connor had mentioned the last bus would be coming soon on purpose. It was most likely Connor's idea. Goddamn, these two. The sudden silence as the clicking of keyboard keys stopped indicated Hank had finished up.

 

     After he got his jacket and keys you followed both Connor and Hank down to the station garage where Hank's car was currently parked. The silence that stretched between the three of you was so tense you could feel it bearing down on you already as you absentmindedly fiddled with your jacket sleeve. It only became worse and more pronounced in the compacted interior space of the car. Hank had gotten into the driver's seat and Connor had immediately made a beeline for taking a seat in the back, which forced you to end up sitting shotgun. Oh, Connor had definitely planned this in some way. Little shit. Hank was the first to break the silence as he turned the key in the ignition, the engine groaning to life pulled startling you ever so slightly. He deftly began making his way out of the garage and out onto the streets easily.

 

    "Still the same address?"

 

    "Um..yeah. Yeah, it is."

 

    It surprised you greatly that he still remembered where you lived after all this time. The paranoid thought crossed your mind of 'what if he's come by and spied on you'. But you immediately brushed it off as nonsense. Hank wasn't that kind of guy and never would be. Without missing a beat Connor spoke up before the silence could blanket over the car once more.

 

    "Did you often go over to Lieutenant (y/l/n)'s home?"

 

    "Connor...," Hank responded with a warning and exasperated tone. It briefly occurred to you that you weren't the only one the two androids had been pestering as of late. But before Hank could say any more you gave in and actually answered the question.

 

    "Used to yeah. At least once or twice a week I would end up making dinner for the three of us at my apartment."

 

    You could feel Hank tense up as soon as you mentioned 'the three of us' but instead of looking over at him you opted to pointedly keep watch out the passenger side window. Why you chose to indulge Connor's questions now was hard to say. You chose to blame it on just general exhaustion. Connor, on the other hand, seemed invigorated by the fact he was finally getting some answers.

 

    "How long did you know Cole for?"

 

    You absently scratched your cheek in thought. Geez, how long had it been?

 

    "Um...I want to say it was for quite a few years. I hadn't been at the precinct very long and was still acclimating to being back. Was still just an officer at the time if you'd believe it and Anderson here was still just a detective. He needed someone to pick up his kid from school and I was the lucky winner who got asked. I said 'yes, sir' and went and took Cole home, like you do ya know."

 

    "..You walked all the way back to my old place with him if I remember correctly."

 

    The gruff fondness in his voice brought a wistful smile to your own face.

 

    "Heh. Yeah, I walked and ended up having to carry Cole most of the way there actually. He was a good kid."

 

    "Yeah. He was."

 

    You heard Hank readjust his grip on the steering wheel. Before Connor spoke up once more, voice more subdued than it had been previously.

 

    "I'm sorry for bringing up a sore topic Hank, (y/n)."

 

    You waved him off as you fought down a yawn.

 

    "It's fine, Connor. Better to talk about it than let it bubble and fester. 'Sides they're fond memories anyhow."

 

    You knew it was a low blow to say as much, but at this point, you were too tired to really feel bad and think your response through. Connor made a thoughtful noise at your response and settled back into his seat in the back of the car. When you glanced at Hank from the corner of your eye you could see the tension in his arms and jaw but also the exhaustion that wavered right around the edge of his expression. 

 

     Just as you were about to turn your attention back out the window a flash of color by the steering column caught your eye. You turned your head to actually look at it and saw a woven bracelet attached to his keys. It. It was the same one that you'd helped Cole make for Hank. The bright green had become faded now but you were sure of what it was. The realization tumbled from your mouth before you could stop it, your eyes still trained squarely on the bracelet.

 

    "You still have it..."

 

    Hank glanced at you in confusion before quickly looking back at the road.

 

    "Still have what?"

 

    You swallowed before replying.

 

    "Th-the bracelet.."

 

    You vaguely gestured towards the object in question. Hank glanced down towards his keys and saw immediately what you were talking about. He'd forgotten that it was there and a warm pang of embarrassment swept through him.

 

    "W-well yea, of course I kept it. Why the hell wouldn't I?"

 

    Now you felt embarrassed for opening your stupid mouth in the first place, your ears burning as your face flushed.

 

    "I don't know. I...I guess it just didn't occur to me that you would is all I guess.."

 

    You quickly tore your gaze away from the bracelet and firmly turned your attention back to the window as buildings zoomed past. Because of how flustered you felt you just barely heard what Hank mumbled next.

 

    "..couldn't just get rid of it. 'Specially since you and Cole made it.."

 

    His words made your heart stutter unexpectedly. God, you wanted to look at him and ask if that was what he really said and meant. But you couldn’t. Instead, you closed your eyes and took a deep breath, willing your heart to calm down as well. So what if he kept it. That doesn’t mean much in the grand scheme of things. Right? Right. It’s just a bracelet after all. The only reason he’d keep it would be as a memento of Cole. Simple as that. You probably just misheard him. He had been muttering after all.

 

    The rest of the car ride was spent in that same overly warm awkward silence that made your gut squirm constantly. As the streets and turns went by you found yourself back to fiddling with your coat sleeves, the warm air swirling in the cabin of the vehicle made your eyes feel heavy. You forced yourself to wake up more once your building came into view, straightening up in your seat. Hank easily pulled into the parking lot and parked, letting the engine idle. You unbuckled your seatbelt and wordlessly exited the vehicle. Before you shut the door you saw Connor step out as well and move around the car to the front seat so you left the door open for the android.

 

    "Well, have a good night and safe travels you two."

 

    Connor gave you a polite smile.

 

    "Goodnight to you as well, (y/l/n)."

 

    Hank didn't respond or even look at you, which you figured was fair, before you turned and headed up to your apartment, wanting to spend the least amount of time in the frozen air as possible. As you headed inside you heard the two of them drive off just like that. Once inside you set your bag down by the door and remove your coat and scarf, opting to just set them over the top of the couch rather than hang them up. Glancing at the clock by the tv you saw that it was 10:57 pm. It was a bit late to be cooking a meal from scratch. Luckily you still had spaghetti carbonara leftover from last night that you could reheat. Taking off your boots and leaving them by the door you proceeded to do just that.

 

    As your dinner finished in the microwave you settled down on the couch and turned the tv on to some random news station. You didn't really pay too much attention to it, just wanting it for background noise more than anything else. You dug into your food after it was no longer going to burn your tongue from how hot it was. The carbonara was filling and tasted as good as it did last night, perhaps not as exciting but still tasty nonetheless. The newscaster was some blonde-haired woman in her early 30's. You knew she was familiar but couldn't remember her name off the top of your head. There wasn't really any big breaking disaster news going on, the biggest story seemed to be that more people were slowly returning to Detroit now that things have settled down. After that, it was discussing various minor news that you didn't pay much mind to. You remember how Cole had no patience for the news station and always wanted to change the channel to something more interesting. A sense of melancholy washed over you as your thoughts drifted in the otherwise quiet solitude of your apartment. You really needed to get out of the house, do something to break the monotony of the past week. Maybe you could talk Tina or Chris into going out for drinks or something soon.

 

    As a yawn forced it's way out, you glanced at the clock and saw that it was now 11:28 pm. Shit. It was really late. So you forced yourself to get up from the couch and clean up your dishes before going and getting ready for bed. After changing into a tank top and jammie shorts you went around and made sure the door and windows were all locked up properly and turned off all the lights. Then after you brushed your teeth quickly you tucked into bed, making sure your phone was plugged in and charging and that your alarm was set for the morning. Once you turned off your bedside lamp as well you wrapped yourself up in your blankets, sleep quickly claiming you and pulling you under.

 

      _Cole bounced along beside you, gently swinging your arm as the two of you walked hand-in-hand. It was warm for late spring that day and Cole had been recounting what he'd learned about soulmates and the etiquette surrounding it. He was belatedly recounting similar remarks that you remember hearing when you'd first been told about soulmates as a child._

_"I haven't gotten my soul mark, though only a few kids have so I'm not worried. What about you (y/n), what's your soul mark? Ooh ooh, have you met your soulmate? What are they like?"_

_You laughed as he always had been bad about steamrolling questions without giving you a chance to answer._

_"I didn't get my soul mark till I was about 14 and when I did get it, it appeared as a big dog on my upper right arm. As for if I've met my soulmate I'm not really sure. I think I have but there hasn't exactly been a time to bring up the possibility with them."_

_"Oh. Was it a big dog like Sumo?"_

_You'd told him about your prosthetic arm not that long ago. He'd thought it was really cool._

_"Kind of I think. Hard to say at this point."_

_"Can I see it when we get home?"_

_He looked up at you, bright-eyed._

_"Sure I don't see why not. Though maybe we just keep it between us huh?"  
_

_"Why?"_

_"Cause I think your dad might be.." You trailed off, not really sure how to explain why._

_"You and my dad..?"_

_He repeated in a questioning tone before a lightbulb went off in his head and you felt your face flush at his exclamation._

_"You and my dad! You're soulmates!"_

_You tried in vain to quiet him down._

_"Maybe! Maybe, Cole, I need to talk to him still is all."_

_"I think it'd be awesome if you guys were."_

_"Well, I'm glad you think so at least."_

_You laughed as the words left you. Cole's matching laughter ringing in your ears before it and the memory of walking along faded out altogether. The next thing you knew you were sitting on your bunk back at camp, another of your troop sitting next to you on his own bunk. Ray. Your best friend throughout both training and deployment. He was an android but he and most every other android who'd been deployed with you were so human-like it was easy to forget they weren't._

_"Do you think androids can have soulmates?"_

_"I don't see why not? Why do you ask?"_

_"We're not exactly living beings remember?"_

_"....I..guess so."_

_You hugged your knees to your chest. As Ray pretended to examine his nails for dirt._

_"Recently I had a written name appear on the back of my calf. Kept thinking it must be an error somewhere in my system but I can't seem to find anything wrong."_

_"Oh. Congrats on your soul mark..?"_

_You never really were the most comfortable with these topics. Your hand absentmindedly going to rest where your own soul mark sat on your right arm._

_"If you knew who your soulmate was, would you tell them?"_

_"Wait! It's a full name?!"_

_"You didn't answer (y/n)."_

_You flinched ever so slightly under his steely gaze._

_"I..I mean maybe? I guess it depends on who they are and what they're like."_

_"Isn't the whole point of a soulmate that they're supposed to be a perfect match for you?"_

_He quirked an eyebrow as he looked at you._

_"If you believe in that being the case, sure."_

_That got a bark of laughter out of him as you shrugged._

_"I take it you don't believe in it then?"_

_You sighed and rested your chin on top of your knees._

_"Not really, no. Think the whole things a bit of childish nonsense if I were to be perfectly honest."_

_"So then why do you insist on staying around him?"_

_"Huh?"_

_You stared at him dumbly._

_"If you really think the idea of soulmates is so stupid then why do you insist on staying as near him as you can?"_

_"Who are you talking about?"_

_He looked at you pointedly, everything starting to fade out around the two of you._

_"Hank. Anderson."_

 

    You awoke with a start, tears welling up in your eyes.

 

    "I don't know why.." You whispered into the dark and safe confines of your room.

 

    After a few moments of laying there and staring at the ceiling, your mind filled with swirls of colors and snippets of your dreams before you finally looked at the clock on your nightstand and saw it was 5:56 am. A little more than an hour to go until your alarm was set to go off. Maybe a shower would help to clear your head. Yeah, that was a good idea. With a sigh, you manage to untangle yourself from your blankets and sheets and get out of bed. You slowly amble over to the bathroom, the cold tiles making goosebumps crawl along your skin.

 

     You turned on the water and as you waited for it to heat up you made sure to turn the fan on. As the fan whirled to life you considered whether or not to remove your prosthetic to shower. You'd been told that it was perfectly waterproof to the point where you could go swimming with it on but old habits from when you had the temporary prosthetic arm were still heavily ingrained. You decided to leave it on as you undressed. Testing the water with your left hand you found it was perfectly hot. So you stepped in and let the water run over your body, relaxing the tense muscles, before getting to work on washing your hair and body.

 

     As you did so you allowed yourself to reminisce on the actual memories that had been the source of your dreams. When you and Cole had gotten home he'd excitedly ran his small hands over what was left of your soul mark, tracing the amorphous ruddy red shape with intrigue. He was absolutely ecstatic about the idea of you and Hank being soulmates, you wonder on some level how much he had most likely seen you as a mother figure. That thought made your heart hurt. Cole, Hank, and Sumo had brought light back into your life and now without the three of them, everything felt as gray as the Detroit winter skyline. As for the memory of Ray, you remember that that was one of the last conversations you ever got to have with him. It wasn't long after that that you lost your arm in the same accident that got him killed.

 

    Best not to dwell on that.

 

    You finished with your shower and turned the water off, letting yourself drip dry for a moment and just exist in the here and now. Stepping out, you grabbed the towel from where it'd been hanging up on the rack and dried yourself off. After you were dry enough you wrapped your hair in your towel before going and getting dressed in the same old attire as always. You would worry about making sure to blow-dry your hair before you left later. Glancing at the clock once more you saw it was now 6:21 am. That meant you had more than enough time to make coffee and breakfast before you really had to get yourself together to leave for the precinct. So you turned off your alarm so it wouldn't go off unnecessarily and grabbed your phone before making your way back to the kitchen.

 

     Entering the small space you connected your phone to the small speaker you had in the kitchen via bluetooth and 'The Moss' by Cosmo Sheldrake began playing. Humming along to the tune you set to work starting your coffee and cooking up eggs and bacon. The scene could've been considered borderline domestic if there had been someone else there aside from yourself. Especially as the morning sun started to permeate through the blinds on the kitchen window. You shook that thought from your mind as you finished up, plating your food and filling your mug with warm and sweet coffee. As you ate you scrolled through the news feed on your phone to see if there were any interesting articles. You skimmed through a few of them with only half-interest, music still quietly playing. Once you finished eating you downed what was left of your coffee and placed your dishes in the sink to deal with later, your phone had been disconnected from the speaker and was safely tucked away in your pocket. With that, you went about getting yourself together to go to work. Brushing your teeth, drying your hair and putting it up into a ponytail, putting on your shoes, and making sure you had everything in your bag that you needed happened before you went about putting on your coat and scarf. With that, you were off.

 

~.~.~.~.~.~.~

 

    After you got to the station and settled in at your desk however, the calm that you had managed to cultivate had all but vanished. You found yourself unable to even look at Hank when he had come in not long after you had. Every time you so much as glanced at him your thoughts would immediately snap right back to that same question Ray had asked you in your dream. Why do you choose to stay so close to him? Especially when he said he never wanted to see you near him again. But he seemed to be doing better so it might be time to try and bridge that chasm right? Maybe. Maybe not. In truth, you knew deep down why you stayed by him but you weren't ready to even admit that to yourself just yet.

 

    It wasn't until right after lunchtime that anything big happened. A reported sighting of your missing WR600 suspect. She'd been spotted being dragged into a building by some man they had yet to identify. You quickly respond, sending the officers a message to remain posted outside the building to keep an eye out for if the two suspects leave before you and Niles can get there. Quickly pulling on your coat, you saw Niles coming over to your desk. As he stopped and waited for you to finish you made sure to grab your gun and holster from your bag, deftly strapping it to your hip. The familiar weight of the pistol on your hip was frighteningly calming. You briefly glanced at Niles and confirmed that he was as ready as you were and the two of you left. There was an automated taxi waiting out front, you assumed Niles had called it in, so you hopped in quickly and Niles followed right behind you. With that, the taxi took off to the address of an abandoned factory. The ride was spent in silence, you checked to make sure you had bullets in your pistol and was pleased to see you did. Niles did the same, you hadn't even realized he also had a gun. Well you supposed it was a sign that he really was 'deviant' and was still just socially and emotionally acclimating to it all perhaps. Either way. You just hoped that nothing bad would happen to the WR600 before you two could get there and help her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just hope that things are making some amount of sense and that everyone isn't horribly OOC ^^;
> 
> Also probably shouldn't expect updates this quickly as a normal thing however the next part is going to be a bit tricky cause action scenes are hard my man.
> 
> Also, the idea for the bracelet came from this headcanon post by jerrychos: https://jerrychos.tumblr.com/post/176436174999/can-you-do-a-hc-with-hank-connor-gavin-and-kara


	3. Intertwining Cases

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Near-death experiences lead to the case becoming even more complicated than it already was. Hank is trying to do his best.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also please keep in mind the updated tags since there is heavy mention of rape, not in explicit detail but it is there. Same with describing murder. Also fun times with panic/anxiety attacks.

    You made sure the safety was still in place on your gun and then properly holstered it for the rest of the ride. Niles sat stiffly across from you, his eyes shut and his LED spinning yellow. You almost wanted to interrupt he was doing to ask about it but decided against it. Instead, you sat there impatiently, your knee bouncing arhythmically and fussed with the sleeves of your jacket. It felt like it took forever, but really, in reality, it only took about 15 minutes to reach the factory. As soon as the taxi stopped and the door opened you scrambled out, your mind going calmingly blank. It was time to focus and be prepared for anything to happen. You peered up at the boarded-up building and the derelict vibe it gave off settled uneasily in your gut. It looked like the kind of place you'd expect to be ambushed in by a ton of guys.

 

     Looking around you spotted the officers car across the street. Should you call for backup? Not yet, not until things actually go sideways or you fully saw the number of people you would be dealing with. So you headed towards the entry door. When you gently tested the doorknob it turned easily, signaling to you it was unlocked. You brought your gun out and kept it pointed at the ground as you looked back to Niles.

 

    "You ready?"

 

    Niles silently nodded his head, his face set in grim determination. Both of you had your guns drawn and ready. With that you slowly opened the door, keeping your gun aimed and ready as you shouldered it the rest of the way. You took careful steps inside, making sure to step over various debris of scrap metal, wood chips, and a few stray cans. Niles keeping behind you on your right as the two of you proceeded. The hallway itself was faintly illuminated by sunlight filtering through into the large open area up ahead. As soon as you got to the end of the hall you braced yourself against the left wall and carefully looked out into the main floor of the factory, trying to see if you could spot any movement. Your eyes slowly swept left and right and seeing none you start to move further onto the floor. But before you could even take a step you heard a voice call out angrily to your left.

 

    "You really fucking think you're better for anything else, huh? You think you're above being used like the machine you are?!"

 

    You slowly poked your head around the corner and saw a greasy-looking man standing in front of the WR600. She looked terrified and swayed ever so slightly. Whereas the man in question stood towering over her, his face red and angry as his fists were balled up at his sides. Before you could make any move towards them the man brought his fist up and back and punched the WR600 across the face, sending her sprawling to the ground.

 

     You acted on instinct and sprinted out from the cover of the hallway and once you were close enough you raised to aim your gun at the man and angrily called out, "Freeze! Detroit Police!"

 

    The man flinched sharply and as he slowly turned to peer at you, you could vaguely see Niles beside you in your periphery vision. You locked eyes with the man and there was a split second where he looked like a deer caught in the headlights. The next second the man was booking it across the main floor towards a set of doors that most likely led further into the factory. Niles immediately took off after him. Before you followed you radioed the two officers who were outside to come and safely escort the WR600 back to the station. You looked at the woman in question, her glassy eyes stared back at you in fear. Lowering your gun you held up your right hand in a placating gesture and had the synthetic skin peel back.

 

    "There are two officers who are going to come and get you someplace safe okay?"

 

    You waited a few moments until she jerkily nodded her head. Then you immediately dart around rusting equipment towards the set of doors Niles and the suspect had just busted through only seconds ago. As soon as you get through the set of doors you just barely catch Niles pivoting down a side hall and take off after him. As the two of you chase the suspect through the maze-like corridors you manage to catch up to and keep pace with Niles in spite of the fact that he was supposedly much more agile and quicker than you. Then the two of you were sprinting up a flight of stairs that creaked and groaned under the combined weight of the three of you. Up three flights of stairs and then you followed the suspect through another door. The two of you were now gaining on the man, your heart pounding in time with your feet on the tiled floors. The hallway led to a dead end and the man was now cornered by you and Niles, the two of you only stopping a foot or two away from him as he desperately scrambled at the locked door. You were breathing heavily, gasping breaths forcing their way in as you forced yourself to speak through your scratchy throat.

 

    "Put your hands up where I can see em jackass!"

 

    As he stopped scratching at the door, you kept your gun aimed squarely on the man's back. Your hands were surprisingly steady in spite of the exertion. Niles approached the suspect as he raised his hands above his head. The android holstered his gun and pulled out a pair of handcuffs from inside his white coat. You lowered your gun as he started to click the handcuffs in place over one of the man's wrists.

 

     Then the man moved fast, to the point he was no more than a blur. Shoving Niles away he pivoted and lunges at you, a crazed look in his eyes. You immediately toss your gun to the side, knowing it’ll be useless in close quarters combat, and grabbed onto his wrists firmly. Before you could plant your feet he quickly overpowered you and shoved you backward, your feet sliding against the floor unable to gain traction as he continued to push. Then he grabbed fistfuls of your jacket and flung you towards the windows that lined the right wall, a gasp ripping out from you. You hear cracking glass as you crash into a window with your shoulders. Just as you snap your eyes up the man is upon you once more and shoves you into the glass, hard. With that last bit of force, the window breaks and you start to tip back as you can't find any purchase with your footing. You don't even have a chance to make a grab at the man as he takes off back down the hall you'd just chased him down.

 

     A surge of fear spikes through you as you see the city skyline upside down for a brief second. Gravity quickly took over and you realized you would fall if you didn't do anything. Just as that thought occurred your left hand caught on some kind of ledge and you gripped down like your life depended on it. As you righted yourself you quickly grabbed onto the ledge just beneath the window with your right hand instead as your left shoulder was torqued painfully from the full weight of your body bearing on it. Your left hand slipped off as you collided with the cold concrete of the outside of the building. You groaned in pain as you hung there for a moment before calling out to Niles, still slightly dazed.

 

    "Just go after him, I'll be fine! We can't let him escape!"

 

    You heard his footsteps echo from the window as he took off in a dead sprint. You felt confident that he'd catch the suspect. Now you just had to make sure you pulled yourself up, rather than stay hanging here. Pointedly making sure to not look down at the ground, you grabbed onto the ledge with your left hand before planting your feet solidly against the wall. Using your feet to balance yourself you managed to get a knee up onto the ledge and push yourself up just enough to grab onto the windowsill with your right hand. You registered the sound of glass crunching under your right hand as you readjusted your position on the ledge. The toes of your boots just barely fit enough onto the ledge for you to stand upon, both hands not firmly clutching onto the broken window. Ignoring the way the jagged glass cut into your palm you hauled yourself up and through the window with a groan.

 

     You ended up sprawled on the dirty tiled floor of the factory, taking a moment to process what the hell just happened as you gasped for air. Panic bubbled just beneath the surface of your conscious self as you came to realize just how close to death you'd been. You pushed yourself up into a sitting position and settled against the wall, your whole body quivering. Thank god for the thorough muscle memory, even after all this time that military training was still incredibly useful. You shook your head in bemusement before taking a few steadying breaths to try and quell the after-effects of the adrenaline that had raced through you during that entire pursuit.

 

     With one last deep breath, you gingerly stand up, your body still shaking ever so slightly. You were definitely getting too old to be chasing people down like this. Glancing at your left hand you brushed off a few shards of glass and pull out one in particular that had caught in the meaty part of your palm, dark crimson red blood bubbling up from the various cuts. That was gonna suck to have to fix up once you got back to the precinct. Your phone went off with a message from one of the official DPD channels. Holding your left hand against your chest so as to minimize the amount of bleeding you pulled out your phone and saw that it was from Niles.

 

    [RK900 to Lieutenant (y/l/n)]

 

    ' _I've successfully apprehended the suspect and have contacted nearby officers to come and take him to the station._ '

 

    The rest of his message gave you an address just a few blocks away to meet up with them at. You smiled at your phone, you knew he could do it, before replying to tell him you were on your way and would be there in just a few. After pocketing your phone you retrieved your gun from where you'd tossed it aside and placed it back in its holster, making sure the safety was in place once more. If there was going to be any more of these kinds of situations during this case then you were going to need to brush up once more on your close quarter combat.

 

     You pick your way back through the factory and manage to make it back outside from the way you had originally come in from. As you made your way down the street the sound and sight of pedestrians helped to ground you. When you finally caught sight of Niles you first noticed the suspect incapacitated on the ground, his hands handcuffed behind his back. The next thing you noticed as you got closer was a large tear in Niles jacket on his upper arm that was stained blue with leaking thirium.

 

    "Your arm is bleeding.."

 

    Niles turns towards you without even glancing at his arm, something in his posture relaxing.

 

    "It is merely a surface level wound, nothing to be concerned over."

 

    You shook your head, rolling your eyes.

 

    "Alright. If you say so."

 

    His eyes squinted at you.

 

    "Your hand is bleeding."

 

    He grabbed your wrist and pulled your left hand up from where you'd been holding it to your chest for him to see the damage better. You forced yourself not to pull it back on instinct.

 

    "It's alright, just some minor cuts from pulling myself in through the window."

 

    Niles continued to stare at your hand and you shifted your weight from one foot to the other.

 

    "It's really alright, Niles. It doesn't eve-"

 

    "I will bandage up your hand once we get back to the precinct."

 

    "Um. Yeah, okay."

 

    He let go of your hand and you noticed the amount of blood that had run down your arm and also stained the edge of your jacket sleeve. That was going to be a stubborn stain to get out. It wasn't long after that that a different pair of officers stopped by and picked up your suspect. They also informed you that another pair had been dispatched to the factory to investigate to see if there was anything in particular that was odd about the place. After they drove off you and Niles got in a cab together once more and headed back to the station in relative silence.

 

~.~.~.~.~.~.~

 

    Once the two of you get back to the precinct, Niles immediately insisted on patching up your hand before anything else could happen. So you followed him to the small little clinic-like room where the medical supplies were kept. He made short work of cleaning up the wounds with disinfectant and bandaging your hand. As he cleaned up and put stuff back you examined your hand, the bandaging job was impressive to where it could've been done by a professional for all you could tell. You hopped off the chair you had been sitting in and headed back to the bullpen, Niles going further into the precinct to go patch up his arm and replace his jacket.

 

    Back at your desk, you drape your coat and scarf over the back of your chair, giving Miller a strained half-smile and a wave with your busted hand before sitting down to work. As you're about to get started on the processing paperwork for both the WR600 and the still nameless man, you hear a commotion echo from down the hall. You wouldn't have noticed such things normally but you were still keyed up from earlier, and it faintly sounded like Hank yelling at someone or something. Standing up quickly you head back into the precinct, heading in the same direction Niles had gone down just a few moments ago. When you turn another corner you see Hank and Niles staring one another down. Hank had Niles collar bunched in his hands and was holding the android against the wall, his face twisted in anger as the android blankly stared back at him.

 

    "Well?! Why the fuck did you leave her huh? Does her life mean nothing but one, zeroes, and chances of probability to you, ya piece of shit!"

 

    You rushed over to them on instinct and forcibly grabbed Hank's wrist, keeping your voice deathly even.

 

    "Let him go, Anderson."

 

    His gaze snapped to you, his expression snapping from anger to astounded. He held your gaze for a beat before letting Niles go and took a step back as soon as you let go of his wrist.

 

    "Are you fucking kidding me (y/n). This asshole leaves you for dead and you're defending him?"

 

    "I told him to go after the suspect, Hank! So don't you dare take your anger out on him!"

 

    There is a small moment where his anger dies into shock but then immediately comes flaring right back up.

 

    "You did what! Why in god's name would you do something so idiotic?!"

 

    "One way or another we needed the suspect to question and I was pretty damn sure of my own abilities and knew I was going to be fine you ass."

 

    The two of you were in each other's faces at this point, you could feel his breath fan across your face with every word. Both of you were locked into this argument with neither wanting to back down.

 

    "You...! Do you not care about your life at all?"

 

    His hands gripped your upper arms tightly, a small shake in them.

 

    "Why do you care so much?"

 

    You practically whispered the words as the wind felt like it'd been knocked out of your sails. The two of you stood there staring like both of you were searching for something in the other's expression but not finding whatever it was. Then Hank let go of your arms and stepped around you, heading back in the direction of the bullpen.

 

    "Goddamnit (y/n).." He muttered as he walked away.

 

    You just barely manage to restrain yourself from calling out to his receding back about not going and getting drunk since there was still work to do. Just barely though.

 

    "Are you okay (y/n)?"

 

    You turn back to Niles as he was just finishing readjusting his collar, feeling flabbergasted.

 

    "Am I- Niles I should be asking you that. Did he hurt you? Are  _you_  okay?"

 

    "I'm quite alright, no damage was done to me."

 

    "Fucking hell..that man is infuriating.." You mumbled under your breath as you ran a hand through your hair.

 

    What right does he have to get so angry anyhow? He was the one who wanted you out of his life so badly in the first place. Hah. Maybe that dream was your subconscious telling you to give it up already. You heave a sigh to dispel that lingering anger that was still simmering just under your skin and looked up at Niles.

 

    "Alright well, how bout you go finish cleaning up and I'll go ahead and get back to those processing papers huh?"

 

    He looked at you for a beat, his expression carefully blank with a glint of curiosity in his eye before he nodded.

 

    "Very well. I shall rejoin with you shortly."

 

    With that the two of you split up once more, you going back to your desk and Niles going to patch up his arm and change out of his ruined jacket. You briefly noticed Hank stiffly sitting at his desk in your peripheral as you entered the bullpen. Instead, you made a beeline for your desk and plopped down into your chair, deftly filling out the processing forms for the WR600 and the man who'd most likely been dragging her around since her escape from Antonio's. It wasn't long before Niles returned, looking as put together as always, and you finished up the last of the paperwork. Now it was time to interrogate your suspects.

 

~.~.~.~.~.~.~

 

    The two of you agreed to start with the WR600 first, let the older man stew in the holding cell for a while longer. Once one of the officers who'd originally made the call brought her into the interrogation room it was you who went in first with Niles on the other side of the two-way mirror. You were hoping that it might be better to go with a more empathetic approach first. When you stepped in the room with her she seemed to be looking everywhere but where you were as you moved to sit down across from her. Once seated you got a good look at her. The WR600 had a head full of frizzy red-orange hair that kept getting in her eyes and her synthetic skin was patchy in areas around her neck, chest, and wrists from what you could see. Her eyes were sharp and attentive unlike before when they'd seemed glazed over when you talked to her in the factory, though there was a lot of fear in them. You slowly folded and rested your arms on the table, doing your best to remain unthreatening.

 

    "Hello, my name is Lieutenant (y/l/n) though you can just call me (y/n). My partner and I are investigating the murder of Antonio Taylor," She visibly flinched as she carefully watched you. "We have no intention of hurting you and want to help keep you safe, but we need you to tell us what happened first."

 

    She continues to stare at you, most likely trying to see if you were lying or deceiving her. After a moment her shoulders sagged and she just looked incredibly tired.

 

    "My name is Gwyn. I...We- We were just walking home after a late night movie, my girlfriend Talon, and I. Someone...something knocked us out. Some kind of electric shock shorted us out and sent us into recovery mode." She rubbed at the back of her neck as you patiently listened. "When we woke up, we were at that bastard's apartment." Gwyn's voice was laced with venom as she spits the words out.

 

     She glared daggers into the table and fell into silence. You waited a moment to see if Gwyn would continue. When she didn't you prompted her for more.

 

    "Were you the one who chopped Antonio up? Or was it someone else?"

 

    "I killed him, yes."

 

    "Why?"

 

    "Talon and I. We were soulmates. I..I loved her so much you know? What that man..what he did to her was unforgivable. He strapped her down to some sort of medical table and first slit her throat, the thirium pooling and collecting into some kind of barrel under the table. As he slowly took her apart piece by piece, panel by panel, she cried out in pain, her voice nothing but static. And I...I felt every agonizing bit of it. Every wire being disconnected. Every bio-component that was severed. Every servo that was yanked out. Until it was just her head attached to her limbless torso. She pleaded and begged for her life, for my life, for the pain to stop. Just before she shut down from the thirium loss he viciously ripped out her heart. Her final cry as she shut down for good is permanently seared into my memory banks. And all the while I could do nothing but watch as he grinned and tore her apart. I struggled and struggled to break free and stop him. But I couldn't."

 

    Tears freely rolled down her cheeks and she was just barely holding back sobs. There was no doubt in your mind that Talon suffered incredibly before dying. You held out your right hand for her to grasp and she took it immediately, squeezing with the kind of pressure that would've made the bones in your left-hand creak. Gwyn took a few deep breaths before continuing rapid fire.

 

    "He had set aside Talon's leg where her soul mark had been and mounted it on the wall. Then he left me there to stare at the remnants of my beloved's corpse, her face was twisted in such horror. It felt like my own heart had completely shattered. Like there was nothing left for me in this world to where I almost willed my body to shut down, unable to handle the idea of keeping on. Instead, I fell into a deep state of rest. After a few hours, someone came by and picked up her scrapped components. I didn't get a good look at him I'm afraid. But after he left I spotted the saws and soldering tools in the closet. It was that night that I made my move."

 

    Her expression became one of stony resolve as she began, tears still streaking down her cheeks.

 

    "I finally broke through the multiple layers of electronic firewalls on the handcuffs through a lot of hard focus. I then took a couple of saws and did to him exactly as he had done to Talon. I sawed through flesh and muscle. I broke and tore out his bones. Piece by piece I broke him and he bled. He begged for me to stop. He only stopped when I ripped out his heart. And then I ran out of there."

 

    You squeezed her hand reassuringly.

 

    "Thank you for being honest with me, Gwyn. Between your testimony and the evidence we collected at the scene, it should support a case of self-defense, which is what the initial report was written as anyhow."

 

    You bit your lip in thought. Honestly, you wanted to let her go with just that but you still had to ask about the man who'd been with her at the factory, the greasy-looking one.

 

    "Just one more thing and then you should be free to go. Gwyn, I need you to tell me what the situation is between you and the man who was with you in the factory. We have him in our custody currently and any information you can give us would help tremendously."

 

    She flinched but nodded after a moment of worrying her lip.

 

    "When I ran away I tried to make my way to a shelter or police station, just somewhere where I'd be safe and protected in some manner. But I only got a few blocks away before I was caught by the man who was only referred to as 'McCairn' by anyone I ever saw during my time with him. I...I don't remember much of it, which is probably for the best anyhow. But he kept me, for lack of a better term, drugged up with something or other and dragged me around from place to place where I was used to...satiate..the workers built up sexual urges. I don't remember how many people it was or how many times. But I remember just enough of their hands on my body that it makes my skin crawl."

 

    Your eyes widened in shock at that, rage swiftly following suit as it crashed through you. Who the fuck did these people think they were that they thought raping someone was perfectly alright!? You just barely kept it under control and out of your voice.

 

    "Thank you, Gwyn. That will definitely be all. Do you have somewhere safe to go? Would you like an officer to escort you safely there?"

 

    Gwyn ended up getting an escort to the newly set up android hospital to get checked up on and would then be taken from there to a well-known shelter for androids that had also been recently set up in the wake of the revolution. You hoped for the best for her honestly.

 

     With her departure meant that it was time to interrogate this "McCairn" guy. Niles and you switched places for this so he was doing the interrogating. The decision came down to the fact that McCairn seemed to be coming down from a Red Ice high and had a high chance of being violent because of that. Also because you were still pretty wound up in anger and would probably end up socking the man for what he did to Gwyn. So now you were seated on the other side of the glass and kept watch while trying to cool your anger. If it weren't for the laws of this land you'd kill McCairn yourself. Or at least seriously maim him so he can still stand justice for what he did.

 

    As you sat back in your chair you watched Niles conduct the interrogation. His demeanor was swift, sharp, and deadly without any mercy. It impressed you as much as it terrified you, sending an unnerving chill down your spine. If anything it only made you more agitated and anxious. The way he held himself and talked reminded you of a shark circling its prey and McCairn squirmed like a worm under his gaze. McCairn broke fairly quickly and started spewing out information.

 

    "That plastic bitch you seem so keen on was better suited to be a whore or scrap. What else kind of good can an android like that do for anyone after all? As for Antonio? God, what a shame he got killed. He was good at what he did, also always had good liquor around and was wonderfully descriptive about his..sessions.”

 

     “What was it that Antonio did exactly?”

 

     “He was a scrapper, collector, resource supplier, or however the fuck you wanna describe it. He chopped up androids, and ooh lemme tell you, his choice in grabbing soulmate androids was incredible. Now that they’re deviants the whole process has been so much more satisfying. Oh, I wish you could hear some of their cries, it’s like music to the ears.”

 

     There was no outward change in Niles’ expression and posture.

 

     “What was your involvement with him?”

 

     “Me? My job is to go around and collect supplies, check in our men on the ground, so to speak, and then drop the supplies off elsewhere at drop zones for someone else to come get. And then that someone else takes it in to sell or turn into red ice. But hey, I’m just a pretty average middle man. But these guys. They don’t play around. You pigs are gonna get fucked up the ass the moment you go sniffing around em."

 

    McCairn's focus sharpens and he leers at Niles at across the table from him, pulling up his left sleeve just enough to show his wrist. There was a tattoo of a white lily, the shape outlined in black, on the inside of his wrist.

 

    "Do what you want with me. But the Morticians will come for you sacks of shits. All you plastic corpses will meet the end you were always supposed to have."

 

    Between his words and the crazed manic look in his eyes, chills ran down your spine. Niles remained as impassive as he had since the beginning and then wordlessly left the room as McCairn laughed. What a bastard. What an absolute rat bastard.

 

     Even after McCairn had been taken back to his holding cell you felt sick to your stomach. After you and Niles submitted your reports he’d most likely be transferred to the actual prison instead of staying in the precinct.

 

     Niles was probably waiting for you to exit the observation room so the two of you could get the ball rolling on that. But instead you found yourself still just sitting there in the dim room, your hands tightly gripping your knees as your thoughts raced. The basic story wasn’t one you hadn’t heard before but that didn’t make it any less horrifyingly awful. The idea of killing living beings just for drugs...for believing it to be perfectly acceptable to rape someone. It was awful. The scenes resonated too much with you.

 

     You remembered the one time you messed up and got captured. How it felt to be restrained and, even in the delirious state you’d been in, knowing there was nothing you could do to stop the rescue team from falling into a trap wherein you were the bait. How it had felt when your elbow had shattered from escaping your restraints and then using that same arm to fight back. All in an attempt to stop the insurgents from torturing your teammates. Ray’s eyes pleading and begging for mercy. For desperate help. How all your effort had been for naught in the end.

 

     Some part of you vaguely registered that Niles had come into the observation room, but if he had said anything you couldn’t hear him. Your thoughts circled and swirled. The tang of blood and bile resting at the back of your throat. Musky damp earth permeating your lungs. The burn of the plastic ties digging into your skin and leaving it raw. The weight and pressure of a hand on your shoulder snapped you out of it, your head snapping up to see who it was. Your eyes met with concerned blue and you distantly realized it was Hank. He didn't say anything, instead just gently rubbing his thumb in circles on your shoulder. It helped to physically ground you, to bring you back to the dimly lit blue space of the observation room. Your face felt wet. When you reached up you realized you'd been crying. Quickly you rub at your eyes and cheeks with the palms of your hands to try and save some semblance of composure. You focus on the plain carpet flooring and worked on getting your breathing under control. Hank was a warm presence next to you. Familiar. Safe. Everything was okay.

 

    Hank waved to Niles, who'd been standing by the door, to go and leave. He had this under control. Niles hesitantly left, glancing backward with concern etched into his features. Taking the seat next to you, Hank stayed with you all the while until you were calm once more. Occasionally the silence was broken when he or you asked or answered simple questions. Things like what day it was, the weather, any recent changes in food, safe topics. Things that helped to further ground you and focus on the here and now. Once you did finally calm down Hank stood up.

 

    "Alright. We're gonna go get drinks okay, (y/n)? Just you and me."

 

    You numbly nodded without hesitation and then stood up, your body felt like heavy lead. Hank giving you a pat on the shoulder before leading the way. You slowly follow him and grab your coat from your desk chair, slipping it on without thought. Then you follow him out to his car, brain feeling like cotton. He drove the two of you someplace that you didn't even read the name of, too emotionally drained to do much of anything.

 

    Thankfully the bar was dimly lit, not fancy but not a shithole either, and there were only one or two other patrons there from what you could see. There probably weren't more cause it was still a bit too early in the afternoon to be getting drunk. You followed Hank to a set of seats at the far end of the bar and settled in. The two of you were far enough away from the other patrons in here that there was very little chance of them overhearing you, especially over the buzzing drone of the tv. Hank ordered whiskey for both of you and when you patted your pockets you realized you left your wallet at the station.

 

    "Don't worry about paying, let's just consider it my treat."

 

    "O-okay."

 

    You rested your elbows on the counter, holding your head up. Hank seemed to busy himself with watching the tv while you did the same. The two of did so until the bartender brought your drinks over.

 

    "Thanks, Jimmy."

 

    It wasn't until after you both had taken a swig of your drinks that Hank finally spoke to you again. The burn of the whiskey helped to wake you up some in the meantime.

 

    "How's your case going?"

 

    "It's going okay overall, don't really have much to say on it."

 

    "Really now. It's going so well that I had two panicking androids on my hands, huh?"

 

    "I-...That's not fair Hank."

 

    You gripped your glass as Hank took a sip from his own.

 

    "You wanna tell me why I found you unresponsive and in tears then? Cause I'm pretty sure if everything was going so perfectly well then you wouldn't have been sitting there like that."

 

    You rubbed the pads of your fingers along the ridges of the whiskey glass before you sighed and gave in.

 

    "The case is going  _fine_  Hank. It started out with the murder of Antonio Taylor. Which turned out to be because he was killing androids for scrap and thirium and one of them finally put an end to him. This girl, Gwyn, kills him out of self-defense and then escapes only to get caught by this McCairn guy who was some lackey or whatnot for this gang called 'The Morticians' or something. But we got testimonies from both of them so it's pretty much case closed on Antonio. So the case isn't the problem, not really." You glared at your drink before taking a gulp, setting it back down on the counter. "The only problem is the shit that Gwyn went through- It just hit a little too close to home okay?"

 

    Hank seemed to go deathly still next to you.

 

    "You sure he said the Morticians?"

 

    You looked over at him, eyebrow raised.

 

    "Considering he was boasting about it and showing off the tattoo on his wrist, yeah I'm pretty sure. Why?"

 

    Hank rubbed a hand down his face with a sigh before turning to you.

 

    "That's the group Connor and I've been trying to track down for the last few weeks. We've been coming up with one dead-end lead after another, and you just so happen to come upon a guy who's apart of the whole damn thing." He shakes his head as he downs the last of his whiskey in one go. "Fuck (y/n)."

 

    The news surprises you, probably not as much as it would have under normal circumstances but it's surprising nonetheless.

 

    "You've got a real talent for getting yourself into trouble huh."

 

    That managed to get a huff of laughter out of you.

 

    "Me? May I remind you of the Euric case?"

 

    A grin quirked up on Hank's face as Jimmy filled up his glass. Just as he brought the glass up to his lips he looked at you.

 

    "You may not, no."

 

    You felt a playful smile make it's way to your face at his challenge and you waited for him to take a sip.

 

    "And pray tell, why not Lieutenant?"

 

    He set his drink down and peered at you, clearly enjoying this game between the two of you. It almost reminded you of old times.

 

    "You of all people should damn well know why not, Lieutenant."

 

    "Ah, but I seem to have forgotten in my old age. So you must remind me how it went down because I remember it being quite entertaining."

 

    The two of you bore matching cheshire-like grins. This little game continued on for quite a while, the two of you easily falling into beat with one another. It made you feel a lot better, fatigue still sticking to the edges of your being. But you were definitely feeling better. Though the glass or two of whiskey definitely helped with that. It came to a lull when Hank and you both received a message from your respective android partners. Fowler needed to see both of you in his office. Though Connor's message to Hank pointed out that this request came after both he and Niles had submitted their reports to give an update on their respective cases. But that had been before the two been talking to one another and when they'd realized their cases tied into one another in an unexpected manner, which is most likely what Fowler wished to speak with you both about.

 

    So Hank paid for your drinks and then it was a surprisingly comfortable and familiar drive back to the precinct. The warm feeling that you'd always associated with Hank left you pleasantly relaxed, like nothing bad could ever happen so long as the two of you were together. God, how you've missed this. If only it hadn't come about because of you having a panic attack then this would be all the better, maybe even dream-like. But you knew that such hopes had no place in reality. So best to enjoy this moment while you could.

 

~.~.~.~.~.~.~

 

    Once back in the station it was you and Hank sitting, and Connor and Niles standing, in Fowler's office.

 

    "I'm making this a full-blown investigation. (Y/n), Niles, the two of you are gonna be joining these two with figuring out who these Morticians are and what they're about. Because clearly, this case went from being a simple two-man job to a shit show of complications. Hank, Connor, I'll leave it up to you if you want to rope in any others but give me a heads up if you do."

 

    You all agreed to the idea, though Connor seemed to be the most enthusiastic about the prospect of working together. With that, the four of you shuffle out of Fowler's office and back into the bullpen. You and Niles split off momentarily to gather up your case notes and related cases to the Taylor case and reconvened with Hank and Conner at their desks. Connor gave you his chair and he leaned on Hank's desk, whereas Niles stayed standing next to you.

 

    "Who wants to start?"

 

    You looked between the three boys and Hank just shrugged.

 

    "You probably should since your's is technically the smaller case to integrate."

 

    You nodded at Hank, sounded like as good a plan as any at this point. Though your pretty sure Niles and Connor have probably already traded information. Oh well. Hank settles in and listens attentively.

 

    "Alright. So Niles and I had been working the Taylor case. The victim was one Antonio Taylor who died from dismemberment. His body wasn't found until roughly 3 weeks after his death. The murder was an act of self-defense by Gwyn, a WR600 who had been kidnapped with her soulmate, Talon, a few days prior to the date of death in the victim. Taylor specifically targeted pairs of androids who were soulmates with the idea that it was more 'pleasurable' to dismantle them. His journal was highly detailed in terms of his methods and those he met with. Though those he met with had codenames. Taylor was a supplier of sorts for a gang called the Morticians. When Gwyn had left the apartment she was caught by McCairn, who will be transferred to the prison tomorrow morning. McCairn was a middle man of sorts, someone who moves supplies from the suppliers for someone else to pick up for the Morticians. McCairn bore a tattoo of a white lily on the inside of his wrist implying that it was some kind of gang mark."

 

    A stray realization occurred to you as you thought back to the wreckage of Antonio's apartment. You trailed off for a moment and Hank sat up, a silent question in his expression.

 

    "Antonio's apartment was completely trashed...Gwyn...Gwyn didn't mention turning the place over like that. And it wouldn't have looked like that from the struggle between the two of them. McCairn didn't mention turning the pace over either. Hell, he didn't even know Antonio was dead until Niles told him.."

 

    "So someone else came by between the time after Antonio's death and the time when the body was found. What do you think they were looking for?"

 

    You looked at Hank, still working through it.

 

    "I...I don't know...something Antonio had. Maybe some specific document since there were a lot of weird papers lying around? Or...something in the journal..? The last entry was from a month ago..so something must've been in there that whomever it was didn't want to be found."

 

    "How do you know it wasn't just that he hadn't written anything in there in a while?"

 

    You shook your head at Hank's question.

 

    "The journal was meticulously kept and had a lot of detail in there. Also, it was pretty easy to see where pages had been ripped out."

 

    "Hm."

 

    Hank leaned back in thought, expression drawn in contemplation.

 

    "But that should be just about everything from our side. What d'ya think, Niles?"

 

    "I believe you've covered everything, (y/n)."

 

    You set your tablet on the desk and sat back, gesturing for Hank or Connor to start. Hank spoke up and started in on explaining their side of things.

 

    "Alright, let's see if we can't shed a bit more light on this bullshit. So we have the Morticians, red ice ring that's been operating in Detroit for the last 10 years after the last big bust that occurred in 2028 with the Red Ice Task Force. At the time we cracked down hard on dealers and believed we got most of them, but clearly not all of em. Though up until around 3 years ago they mostly stayed underground. Now what with the whole, rights for androids, there kidnapping and dismantling of androids have become a lot more obvious. There have been a number of related murders that can be traced back to the Morticians or people finding out about them, so we have to be careful with our approach. No belligerent running-in-by-yourself nonsense, got it?"

 

    He looked at you pointedly and you faked being offended by the accusation. Then he continued on.

 

    "We've followed a few leads recently but they've all lead to dead ends, or in many cases dead or missing people. We hadn't been able to locate any actual dealers since it seems these guys are using a different method than the old groups would use. Which surprise surprise you found out from an actual member of the gang, a lackey at best but still a lead. Honestly, all we need is to find out where these drop zones are at. Which means Connor and I should probably have a follow-up with your McCairn guy, see what he can be persuaded to talk about."

 

    You nodded.

 

    "Sounds like as good a starting place as any."

 

    The two androids nodded in affirmation, which seemed to mark the end of your mini-meeting. Then Gavin came swaggering over just as the four of you finished up.

 

    "Hey, fuckers. If you four are quite done I need this fuckface of a partner to come with me already."

 

    You glared at Gavin but Niles seemed completely unfazed by the man's words.

 

    "Luckily for you Detective Reed, we've just finished."

 

    "Great. So let's go already dipshit."

 

    He turned and walked away, Niles easily following behind and the two of them left. Reed really needed to stop being such a prick, especially to Niles. The way he treated him pissed you off. Though you'd also felt the same way with his treatment of Connor when the android had first shown up at the precinct. But now with Niles' departure, you were left alone with Hank and Connor. The latter striking up a conversation with you almost immediately.

 

    "Niles speaks rather highly of you Lieutenant (y/l/n)."

 

    "You can just call me (y/n) ya know?"

 

    "Oh." He smiles widely and you feel your heart skidder for a moment. "Alright, thank you."

 

    "Pfft. Your welcome?"

 

    After a brief moment, you spoke up.

 

    "When you say he speaks highly of me, what exactly does that mean?"

 

    He seemed to contemplate his words, unfortunately, you were unable to see his LED, and you had a moment of feeling like you needed to backpedal just in case.

 

    "I mean you don't have to tell me exactly what he said or anything like that. Was just curious and I mean I can always just ask him myself honestly if you don't want to-"

 

    "It's perfectly alright (y/n)."

 

    "O-okay." You rubbed the back of your neck.

 

    "Niles has said that he's grateful to have you for a partner. Especially because you have given him a lot of perspective on humans seeing as how he's been a bit limited by his interactions with Reed. He has described you as kind, incredibly smart, and observant."

 

    You felt your face flush. It's not every day you get those kinds of compliments. Especially ones so honest at that.

 

    "Oh. Well, thanks. I guess."

 

    "Your welcome." Connor gives you a warm small smile.

 

    "Well," You stand up from Connor's chair. "I should probably get going home."

 

    "Then I wish you safe travels back home."

 

    Hank looked up at you from the file he'd seemingly been reading.

 

    "You gonna be alright taking the bus? I can give you a ride back if you want."

 

    You thought for a moment, doing a quick self-assessment before you shook your head.

 

    "Yeah, I'll be fine but thanks."

 

    You gave him a small smile and he gave a small grunt before responding.

 

    "No problem."

 

    With that, you walked back to your desk and grabbed your stuff before going home. It'd been a bit since your last PTSD induced panic attack. Though thankfully this was more of a minor one, the fact of the matter was that you were exhausted regardless. The bus ride was mostly uneventful, the same route as per usual. But when you looked at your phone you had a message from an unknown number.

 

     (6:22 pm)     ' _Hello (y/n), this is Niles. Your behavior from earlier today has left me greatly concerned and I would like to stay over and observe to make sure there is no relapse, as is highly prone to occur with the symptoms you displayed. Is this amenable?_ '

 

    You stare at your phone blankly and reread the message a few times before what he was asking you finally clicked. First things first though, you made sure to save his number as a new contact and then you responded to him.

 

    (6:23 pm)     ' _if you're asking to come over then i don't see why not. should i just assume you know where my place is?_ '

 

    The response was so instantaneous that it made you flinch.

 

    (6:23 pm)     ' _That would be correct._ '

 

    (6:23 pm)     ' _alright, well just knock when you get here and i'll let you in_ '

 

    You didn't get a response back so you pocketed your phone. After that, it was only a few minutes more before you were exiting the bus and headed up and into your apartment. Well, it seemed like you would be expecting company for the night. The idea of that alone was disconcerting enough. The fact that it was Niles whom you'd hadn't really interacted with outside of work was another stressful matter entirely. Best not to overthink it. It's only Niles after all. Whom you barely even really know. This is gonna be just fine. Yep.

 

~.~.~.~.~.~.~

 

    It wasn't until around 9 pm that you got a knock on the door. Stiffly extricating yourself from the couch you make your way over to the door. When you open it you see Niles standing there and you let him in with a tired greeting.

 

    "Well howdy there partner."

 

    You stepped back and let him in, closing the door once more and stuffing your hands into your hoodie pocket. He stands awkwardly in the entryway, unsure as to what he should be doing.

 

    "Sooo, how was your romp with Reed?"

 

    "It was as eventful as any other outing with the Detective."

 

    You raised an eyebrow in question but Niles didn't seem keen on elaborating further. With a shrug, you headed for the kitchen, figuring it was as good a time as any to clean up before bed. Niles follows right behind you and stops in the doorway. You turned the music back on at a lower volume, the tone of 'This Too Shall Pass' by Ok Go filling up the silence, as you got to work on washing dishes. As Niles stood in the doorway, you felt the hairs on the back of your neck rise. He was definitely watching you and it set you on edge in a bad way. You stopped washing and looked at the android apologetically from over your shoulder.

 

    "You can make yourself at home if you wanna? Don't have to just stand there the whole time."

 

    He picked up the hint immediately, expression of realization flashing across his features, most likely having picked up on the strain in your voice. Then the android went and settled on the couch as you got back to washing a pan. You felt kinda bad about the tone you'd used with him. So as you set the pan to the side to dry you called back to Niles.

 

    "You can feel free to look around if you want."

 

    The sound of the answering couch springs creaking told you he'd stood up and the gentle padding of his steps told you he was walking around your living room. After a moment more you finish up with the dishes, setting the last pot on the drainboard before drying your hands off with a towel. When you walked into the living room you saw Niles by your bookshelf looking at a framed picture. As you got closer you saw that it was the group photo Miller had insisted on taking when you were promoted to a detective.

 

     He had somehow managed to convince Fowler to take the picture, that was a story you still hadn't managed to pull out of the officer. Hank stood right behind you on your left and Tina was to your immediate left with an arm slung over your waist. Chris was to your immediate right with his elbow resting on your shoulder and Collins stood behind you on your right, on the other side of Hank. Tina had dragged Gavin in at the last minute so he stood next to her still wide-eyed shocked and confused. That dopey look on his face was probably a part of why you kept the picture in the first place. The other reason, which you would never admit to Niles or Connor, was the way that Hank smiled and beamed in the picture. He had been so proud of you for making it up in rank and the two of you had gone out for dinner together after celebratory drinks with the others. Cole had stayed the night at a friend's house so you and Hank ended up staying out late and had a wonderful time together.

 

    "It's a nice photo."

 

    "Heh, yeah. It was a hell of a day."

 

    Niles hummed before placing the photo back where it'd been. He stared at the bookshelf for a beat before throwing you off guard.

 

    "Do you take medication for your condition?"

 

    You stare up at him owlishly, trying to piece together his train of thought before what he was getting it finally clicked.

 

    "Oh. You mean for my PTSD."

 

    He nodded as though this should be obvious. You shook your head in turn.

 

    "I did for a while but.." You shrugged. "Decided to stop. There any reason you bring it up?"

 

    "It would be quite difficult to continue this investigation should my partner fall ill."

 

    You raised an eyebrow and squinted at him for a few moments before rolling your eyes.

 

    "Your concern for my well being is appreciated I suppose."

 

    As you turned to go, Niles spoke up.

 

    "I believe my words may not have properly expressed my meaning."

 

    You looked over your shoulder, silently prompting him to continue.

 

    "I did not mean to imply that your mental illness would be a hindrance to the case. I simply meant that your well being is important and I only wish to ensure your overall health remains intact."

 

    You can tell he means it earnestly. Though part of you still couldn't accept those words as being the entire truth. He only cared because he needed you for the investigation, nothing more than that. Once all was said and done he'd probably leave and not give a damn about you once more. It's how this always seems to work out. You heave a sigh and your shoulders slump.

 

    "Okay...If you say so, Niles." You hold up a hand as he looks like he's about to protest. "I'm going to go and get ready for bed. You can do as you wish just keep the noise level to a minimum so I can sleep okay?"

 

    He clammed up, looking frustrated, but nodded.

 

    Then you go and do just that, making sure everything is locked up before going and getting changed into pajamas. After brushing your teeth you shut off the lights and curl up in bed. The weight of the blankets was a huge comfort as you fell into a fitful sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is it obvious yet how much of this I'm making up as I go? cause there's a whole shit ton of things (mainly names and whatnot) that I'm making up as I go. but I suppose that's what fanfiction kind of is regardless
> 
> so I hope y'all are enjoying this! feedback would be appreciated ^^;


	4. Poking Noses Where They Don't Belong

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gavin starts poking his nose into your business and the investigation turns into a bit of a waiting game.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> apologies for the delay u.u; had finals week and then had classes start up after a week-long break after that so writing got pushed back because of that...
> 
> regardless i hope you enjoy :3

    You tossed and turned throughout the night, your sleep coming and going intermittently. Flashes of scenes from your time abroad linking together incoherently. The bright sun against the sea of sand. Dirt flying into the air as explosions and gunfire ring out. Sitting side-by-side at camp, laughter and singing terribly. Waking up in the hospital after the amputation. When you gave up on sleep you laid in bed for a while just staring up at the ceiling. Your right arm ached as pain tingled where flesh met prosthetic. Absentmindedly you rubbed the area as you tried to ignore the pain, your thoughts drifting to the photo Niles had been looking at last night.

 

    The way Hank had been beaming that whole day and the memory of the night the two of you shared together warmed your heart. He took you out for food at a pretty simple restaurant, nothing fancy of course but still nice. Then the two of you walked around going on a bit of a bar hopping trip, getting a drink or two at one place then walking to another. You hadn't been stupid drunk but you also hadn't been the soberest between the two of you. Hank had managed to pace himself a bit better and drove the two of you back to his place after you had agreed it would be better for you to stay with him that night. You remember how warm and comfortable it'd been to cuddle with him on the couch. His arms were wrapped around your waist as you laid against his chest, the two of you chatting about nothing and everything all the while. You remember how he had run his fingers through your hair, how nice the whole moment had been. Things had started to go somewhere but then you both had backed off, using the excuse of being too inebriated to keep going. That part was still a little bittersweet.

 

    Glancing at the clock you see it was 6:30 am. You figured that by now you should probably get out of bed and see how Niles was doing. Flinging the covers off you quietly exit your bedroom and make your way to the living room. When you entered the room you see Niles sitting upright on the couch, he was unearthly still and made no move to show that he was aware of your presence. As you walked around to get a better look at him you see his eyes are firmly shut in some kind of rest mode. As you stood there for a few moments you realized you were just staring at him awkwardly. So you moved to the kitchen and started going about making breakfast and coffee like you normally do, hoping that the regular routine would help. Though this time you didn't play music, not wanting to wake Niles up unnecessarily.

 

    Man, you definitely needed to ask Chris and Tina out for drinks soon because this monotonous shit was getting to be ridiculous. Also because it'd been quite a while and you kind of missed them if you were being honest.

 

    As you bustled around and had coffee bubbling away as food sizzled in the pan you heard the creak of the couch, telling you that Niles was awake now. So much for trying to be quiet. After a few moments the android joined you in the kitchen and when you turned to greet him you saw him slowly straightening out his coat sleeves.

 

    "Good morning, sleepyhead."

 

    He slowly blinked at you, like his processor was still booting up from sleep mode.

 

    "Good morning, (y/n). How did you sleep?"

 

    You shrugged and picked at the bandaging on your hand. You need to make sure to change it before you left for work today.

 

    "Slept alright I guess. As well as any other night really."

 

    He stared at you most likely scanning you to see the truth of the matter.

 

    "How bout you? How'd you sleep? Hope you weren't too bored during the night."

 

    "I rested for a few hours which was more than enough after having read through a number of your books. They were pleasant enough to read through. Also, your apartment is surprisingly quiet for this part of Detroit."

 

    "Well, the quiet is definitely a large part of why I've stayed here for so long. But I'm glad that you found some way to entertain yourself overnight, was kinda worried about that honestly."

 

    At this point, you turned your attention back to your food to make sure it didn't burn.

 

    "You needn't concern yourself over my wellbeing as I am fully able to take care of myself."

 

    "Can't help it, Niles. It's in my nature as a human being to worry about others."

 

    He hummed in thought.

 

    The two of you fell into a comfortable silence after that as you got your breakfast together and sat down to eat, the android sat across from you at your tiny table. The small moment was surprisingly nice in spite of it missing the familiarity that came from being in another's company for so long. But Niles was perfectly fine with the quiet and didn't try to force small talk which brought your anxiety down greatly.

 

     After that, you went about getting ready for work as per usual. But also making sure to change the bandage on your left hand, looking over the scabbing on the cuts which looked like were healing just fine. Then before the two of you leave you also make sure that your gun was safe in your bag where you always kept it. Niles accompanied you along your normal route to work and boarded the bus with you. He sat down next to you and throughout the ride simply observed the people who boarded. It was a little way on that you saw the businessman who normally sat next to you board the bus and take the seat in front of you instead. A flash of black peeking out from just under his collar caught your eye. It looked like something that could've been part of a tattoo in the shape of a petal. You shifted your bag in your lap so you were gripping the top of it, ready to grab the gun should it become necessary. There's no way that they've been this close all this time right? Right. It's probably nothing. You hope it's nothing.

 

~.~.~.~.~.~.~

 

    The rest of the bus ride continued peacefully and the two of you got to the precinct without any issue. You decided to keep what was most likely just a paranoia induced observation to yourself. No need to freak the others out over something that was most likely nothing. When the two of you walked into the bullpen you could see that you'd managed to arrive before Hank and Connor had. That man could never seem to be here on time anymore. You made your way to your own desk and Niles headed over to his own. As you set your stuff down and get settled you see Chris giving you a curious look.

 

    "What?"

 

    "Since when do you and Niles come in at the same time?"

 

    "Since he stayed over last night?"

 

    "Just stayed over?"

 

    "Yes?"

 

    He looked at you in disbelief before shaking his head. You interrupted him as he opened his mouth to speak.

 

    "Are you free for drinks soon?"

 

    He paused with his mouth open before letting go of a small sigh and looking through his computer. You waited while he pulled up his shift schedule.

 

    "Looks like I'm free tomorrow night since I've got the early shift."

 

    "Awesome. I can do tomorrow night, no problem."

 

    "Want me to check with Tina to see if she can come too?"

 

    "If you could that'd be wonderful."

 

    You gave him a grateful look as some tension left your shoulders.

 

    "You do realize I will be questioning the shit outta you right?"

 

    "I wouldn't have it any other way, Chris."

 

    With that, the two of you got to work on your own work and a warm feeling settled in your gut. Since Hank and Connor had yet to arrive you couldn't really do much as far as the investigation was concerned. So you settled in to read through the officers' report who'd gone to investigate the derelict factory where you'd found McCairn and Gwyn.

 

    It turned out they didn't find much of note overall. They looked over a lot of the old rusty equipment on the main floor. None of it had been tampered with and was all registered to a bottling company that had gone under a few years back. A lot of the trash that had been strewn about the place was attributed to the small homeless population that was using the factory as shelter. They'd been left alone since there was no reason to remove them from the premises. When they investigated the loading bay area they'd found a few android odds and ends that were standard components in all android models. There were also traces of fresh thirium that had yet to evaporate. Part of you wondered if it was from Gwyn. She had been pretty beaten up and out of it that it wouldn't surprise you if that had been the case.

 

    You didn't get much farther than that before you see Hank stomp into the bullpen, Connor following behind just a few moments later. Hank had looked heavily annoyed about something. But you didn't even get a chance to get up before a hand was slammed down onto your desk. As your head snapped over to your left you realized it had been Gavin. He leaned forward with a shit-eating grin on his face as soon as you met his gaze.

 

    "So I hear you're an android fucker now."

 

    Your face contorted in confusion, already feeling annoyed by the Detective's presence.

 

    "What the hell are you talking about?"

 

    "I know that Niles stayed at your place last night." He crossed his arms and switched to leaning his hip against your desk. "Knew you were pretty android positive but didn't know you swing for plastic nowadays."

 

    He made a show of looking under his nails as you pinched the bridge of your nose, stopping yourself from rising to the challenge of his words.

 

    "Niles and I aren't fucking each other, first and foremost. Secondly, keep this up and I'm writing you up for sexual harassment since whom I'm having sex with is none of your goddamn business."

 

    He stands up and holds up his hands in a placating way.

 

    "Alright alright. If you say so Lieutenant (y/l/n), no need to get so defensive."

 

    You just glared at him as he sneered before turning and walking away just like that. With a roll of your eyes and a shake of your head, you turn back to your computer. You try to go back to where you'd been in reading the report but the buzzing agitation from Gavin's words kept bouncing around in your head. You could barely focus on the words. You weren't going to get any work done like this. So you push yourself away from your computer and stand up, feeling incredibly antsy. You made your way to the break room, maybe the process of getting coffee might help bring you down. When you get through the doorway you see Connor at the coffee machine, most likely getting a cup of it for Hank if you had to guess. Sensing you come in, the android turned around and greeted you with a small smile.

 

    "Good morning, (y/n)."

 

    "It certainly is a morning." You shook your head as you gave a half-hearted smile in return.

 

    "Is everything okay?"

 

    "Yeah. Yeah, everything's fine. Things good with you and Hank? Noticed he seemed kinda..agitated this morning when y'all came in."

 

    You see Connor wince as you leaned against the counter.

 

    "It is my fault. I may have pushed a bit too hard on his boundaries this morning so now he is upset with me."

 

    "Have you apologized to him yet?"

 

    "Yes, but he is still angry."

 

    You put a hand on his shoulder.

 

    "Well, if there's one thing I know about that grumpy old man is that you sometimes have to just wait for him to come around to things in his own time. Cause he can be one stubborn mule. So maybe try again tonight depending on his mood okay?"

 

    As you took your hand away Connor nodded and looked at you appreciatively.

 

    "Okay. Thank you, (y/n)."

 

    He finished up with the coffee machine and moved out of the way for you to get coffee, though you stayed put for now.

 

    "You guys get to McCairn yet?"

 

    "No, though we will be heading over to the prison in just an hour or two to do so. The four of us should reconvene after Hank and I do so to discuss what we want to do going further with this investigation."

 

    You hummed in agreement.

 

    "Sounds good to me."

 

    Then Connor made to leave so you moved over to the coffee machine and poured some into a mug.

 

    "Also, you shouldn't mind what Detective Reed says. My understanding is that he is currently going through his own emotional troubles."

 

    You blink and stare at the counter for a moment, full coffee mug in hand.

 

    "Well, it's probably for the best that I only listen to half of what Reed ever says at most in any moment."

 

    Then you hear Connor leave and take the coffee back to Hank. Silently you appreciated Connor's words if only just so you felt at least somewhat justified in your emotions. You mix in the cream and sugar to finish making your coffee before making your way back to your desk. When you walk back into the bullpen however you glanced over at Gavin and Niles' desks. Gavin was sulking in his seat, looking admonished, whereas Niles seemed like the cat that got the cream in composure. The mini scene made you quirk an eyebrow in question but you continued on your way and sat down at your desk once again regardless of your curiosity.

 

    Unfortunately, you still didn't get much work done after that. You went over and reviewed the notes you had about the investigation to see if there were any possible angles or connections that you hadn't considered to see if there were any new leads you could follow. Somewhere in the middle of doing that Hank and Connor headed out to go see McCairn. Connor gave you a mixed look and you gave him a thumbs up for good luck. You just hoped that the meeting went well and that they came back with good news cause no joke, this case was leading to nothing but dead ends as far as the eye could see.

 

~.~.~.~.~.~.~

 

    It wasn't until a little past an hour that you got a message from Connor telling you and Niles to meet up with him and Hank over at a place called The Chicken Feed to grab an early lunch and discuss what they managed to get from McCairn. You vaguely recall going there once or twice for food but didn't remember exactly how to get there. So Niles and you head out over that way via self-driving cab, Niles somehow paying for it before you could once more. Once you got out of the cab you see Connor wave you and Niles over to where he and Hank were standing. Hank already had food so you went up and ordered a burger and coke for yourself while Niles went and stood with the two others. The guy who was running the food truck looked amicable enough and you just hoped that you'd be able to actually eat the burger you'd ordered this time. When he handed you the boxed up food and coke you thanked him and headed over to where Hank and the two androids were over to the right of the food truck. You set your stuff down and opened the cardboard box containing your burger, getting a good look at it before glancing over to Niles.

 

 

    "So this one safe for me to eat this time ya think?"

 

    Niles briefly glanced at your food before looking back to you with a small quirk of a smile playing at his mouth.

 

    "In spite of the health code violations surrounding The Chicken Feed the food is indeed safe for consumption."

 

    Hank seemed to get weirdly quiet at the exchange but said nothing as you began eating, Hank continuing from what was left of his own burger. You didn't wolf your's down like you might've if it was later in the day, instead just taking a few slow bites. It wasn't until you were taking a drink from your soda that Hank spoke up.

 

    "So you and Niles huh? I'll admit that that's something I wasn't really expecting."

 

    You proceeded to choke on your drink as you sharply inhaled the carbonated liquid in surprise.

 

    "I-I'm sorry. What??"

 

    He looked at you, an eyebrow raised in assessment as an almost bitter expression flitted across his face. He, seemingly nonchalantly, took a sip of his drink before proceeding as you kept from trying to cough up a lung.

 

    "It's perfectly fine. I don't have anything against it so long as you're happy. And I mean you're your own adult and can make your own choices so it's not like my approval really matters or anything."

 

    "Hank I-"

 

    "I'm just trying to be supportive or some shit okay (y/n). Is that really so hard to believe?"

 

    "What the actual fuck are you on about Hank? You really think Niles and I are-?"

 

    "Dating, fucking, whatever you want to call it, yeah."

 

    You were so flabbergasted at the implication that you didn't know what else to do but laugh.

 

    "Oh. My god. No. Absolutely not. Niles is just my temporary partner for the case Hank. That's it. You know that. So where the hell are you getting-?" Your eyes widen in surprise. "Since when do you actually take Gavin's word for shit when it comes to anyone at the station?"

 

    He looks rightfully abashed and apologetic, choosing to stare down at his soda rather than towards you.

 

    "Shit..."

 

     He rubbed his hand over his face and you could see the tips of his ears go pink, and it wasn't from the cold. You patted his shoulder as you fought down, both your own and second hand from Hank.

 

    "Let's just consider this kinda subject a no go from now on huh?"

 

    Hank jerkily nodded his head. "Yeah..yeah.."

 

    Connor awkwardly clears his throat.

 

    "So...shall I tell you about our visit with McCairn?"

 

    You removed your hand from Hank's shoulder and leaned on the table.

 

    "Please do."

 

    You continued eating as Connor started talking.

 

    "He was surprisingly forthright with information and easy to compromise a deal with in exchange for such. He informed us of several drop sites that he was in charge of and, more importantly, the location of the drop site he was meant to leave supplies at next. It just so happens that tonight is when this is to occur."

 

    "Which is why Connor and I'll be the ones to stake the place out. In the meantime I want you and Niles to check out the other drop sites, see if you can find anything noteworthy or that might give us a lead."

 

    Part of you wanted to argue with him as to why that was the plan but you decided it was better to just go with it for now. You didn't exactly want to be on stakeout duty what with your nerves still being what they were from this morning so you just nodded.

 

    "Alright, sounds as good a plan as any."

 

    You straightened up and gathered your trash up, Hank doing the same for his own stuff. Then the two of you tossed out the trash from your meals before the four of you piled into Hank's car, you and Niles in the back and Hank and Connor up front. Connor had already transferred the locations to Niles and Hank dropped the two of you off at the first place you'd be starting out at, a fenced-off parking lot by an abandoned building. From there the two of you would be hoofing it on foot to check out the other drop sites and see what you and Niles could find. Hank and Connor drove off after you and Niles stepped onto the sidewalk.

 

    First things first was needing to find a way inside the parking lot since the drop site was specifically in there. Thankfully Niles quickly spotted a hole in the fence where one of the bottom corners was curling in on itself and pointed it out to you. When you tested it you could see that you at the very least would be able to fit through but couldn't tell if Niles would. He offered to go first if you'd prefer but you waved his offer away. So you carefully moved through the hole, making sure to use your hands and shoulder to keep the sharp metal of the fence from scratching you. As you took one final step you were clear of the fence and you stood up before taking a few steps out of the way while you waited for Niles to make his own attempt at making it through. He followed what you had done to make it through and you busied yourself with dusting the snow from your pants. The android, however, got caught right at the very last step wherein the collar of his jacket got snagged on the metal fence. You saved him with minimal amounts of teasing.

 

    Once the two of you were safely through you both started looking around the parking lot. A lot of it was covered in undisturbed snow, which only meant no one had been here within the last day or two really with all the snowfall. Niles continued in ahead of you and you paused by the gate that originally led into the place. It was a lot quieter back here, the sound of pedestrians and passing cars severely diminished and the loudest sound was the crunch of the snow beneath your feet. You had a sneaking suspicion that there wouldn't be much of anything back here but took those few steps forward to start looking around like Niles was already doing.

 

     You walked over to a mound that you were fairly certain was some kind of abandoned car and wiped snow off of the passenger side window. As you peered into the dark cabin you couldn't make out anything of note aside from just your average car interior. The driver's seat cushion was busted and the lining was patchy at best. So you stepped away and moved towards another weirdly shaped snow-covered mound. This one, however, was lower to the ground and was next to another run-down car which struck you as suspicious. When you wiped the snow off you came in contact with a tarp. After lifting it up you saw that it was only covering up a pile of boxes and a tire that was leaning up against them. You let the tarp fall back over the pile and moved on, rubbing your hands together. The snow was really fucking cold and was making your fingers go numb. Should've grabbed your gloves before you left the precinct. Your right hand wasn't exactly helping in the matter of helping to warm you up. With a sigh, you stuffed your hands in your coat pockets and looked over to where Niles was milling about.

 

    "Hey, Niles! You found anything of interest?"

 

    He looked over to you with a frown.

 

    "Unfortunately, no. There are no traces of thirium or other such lubricants from bio components in here."

 

    "So we're just burning daylight out here huh?"

 

    "It would seem to be as such."

 

    "Shall we make our way to the next location then?"

 

    "Indeed."

 

    So he followed you out of the abandoned parking lot in the same manner that the two of you entered from in the first place, making sure he didn't get caught on the fence this time. Once clear of the fence and back onto the relative safety of the sidewalk the two of you began to walk over a couple of blocks to the next drop-off spot. The walk was spent in relative silence between the two of you, there wasn't really much of anything to talk about.

 

     The second drop spot turned out to be a side alley that ended in a dead end between a laundromat and a 7-11 store. The only real difference between here and the abandoned parking lot was that it looked like someone had attempted to shovel the alleyway of snow and had cleared off the dumpsters. Due to the shoveling, the snow was more of a light brown color rather than the pure white you'd seen at the last area. Though that could also just be due to the brown sludge that always seemed to just exist in every back alley of Detroit. The air was somewhat warmer between the buildings but you could still see your breath very clearly with every little huff. Niles went in first once again and started looking around. You followed in at a slower pace, simply scanning what you pass by with your eyes since the cold was really starting to get to you. You came to a stop halfway down the alley with a sigh and rested your weight on your right leg. The chance that you were gonna find anything here seemed to be slim to none. These 'Morticians' seemed to be pretty thoroughly careful. Or McCairn gave you guys false information. Either is a possibility really. You could see Niles expression contort in frustration as he was looking around. This method of looking around clearly wasn't working.

 

    "Hey, Niles?"

 

    He didn't even flinch and kept looking around like he hadn't heard you. You walked over to where he was kneeling down to get a better look at a pile of boxes.

 

    "Niles."

 

    After a moment he stood up and finally acknowledged you by meeting your eyes.

 

    "Should I just assume it's the same results as the first spot?"

 

    "....Yes."

 

    You hummed and nodded twice in thought.

 

    "Alright. Well, let's see about going and talking to see if any of the businesses around here have seen anything or anyone weird within the last few weeks. Sound good?"

 

    He let out a defeated sigh, a puff of air visible in the cold air.

 

    "It would seem to be our best option to do so."

 

    As the two of you stopped at the mouth of the alley you looked around to try and determine the best place to start investigating. Niles interrupted your train of thought.

 

    "I believe it would be in our best interest to split up and question people separately so as to cover ground more quickly."

 

    "You sure you'll be alright on your own?"

 

    "I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself (y/n)."

 

    "Okay. Let's meet up by the bus stop over there," You pointed to the covered bench across the street at the corner, "once we finish up."

 

    "Very well."

 

    Then he walked off, heading across the street and to the left towards some kind of second-hand shop. You figured the 7/11 immediately to your right was probably going to be your best bet. So you tromped through the shoveled snow and made your way to the entrance of the convenience store, pulling up the photo you have on file for McCairn so you had it on hand just in case. As you stepped through the automatic doors the sound of chimes greeted you and the warm air that breezed past you was like a breath of fresh air for your cold body. You stepped in past the mat so you wouldn't let too much cold air in. Taking a quick look around, you figured your best bet was to ask the woman behind the counter rather than the man over by the drinks in back. Though both were wearing the same uniform. You made eye contact with the lady as you walked over, pulling out your phone with the picture of McCairn from your coat pocket as you did so.

    "Hi, I was wondering if you could help me?"

    She raised her eyebrow at you but seemed approachable nonetheless. You held your phone on the counter for her to see the photo.

    "Looking for this guy and was wondering if he's been by lately."

    The lady stared at the photo, a look of confliction running across her face as she bit her lip in thought.

    "Pretty sure he goes by the name McCairn."

    "...Why ya lookin for him?"

    "Does it matter?"

    She stared at you with a hard look which you met with a cool exterior expression. You could see the tension building in her shoulders but she remained quiet. During the short lull, you got a look at the nametag on her uniform. The name printed on it was 'Penny'. You could also see some kind of mustard yellow mark peeking out from the collar of her work shirt.

    "I think it does."

    You resisted the urge to pinch the bridge of your nose in irritation and instead blew out air through clenched teeth.

    "Look, I just need you to tell me if you've seen this man or not. He has a tattoo of a lily on his left wrist. Works for some seemingly dangerous people."

    "You some kind of cop? That why you're looking for this guy?"

    "Perhaps."

    She clammed up real quick, standing ramrod straight from where she'd been leaning on the counter previously. Her expression was ice cold and the glare sent your way sent off warning bells in the back of your mind. Something was definitely up. And you definitely just crossed a line you probably shouldn't have.

    "You need to leave. Right. Now."

    "Alright. Have a nice day."

    You leave feeling completely creeped out and step back out into the biting cold. It got colder, didn't it. Definitely felt like it had. You made a quick note of the woman at the 7/11 and what had gone down on your phone before pocketing. Taking a look around you couldn't see Niles anywhere in sight, at least not immediately so. Best to try and see if you could find out anything else from anyone else around here. For the sake of the investigation, you really needed some kind of lead. You attempted to ask around at other shops around but no one gave off any hints that they recognized the picture of McCairn whatsoever. Nothing like that woman at the 7/11. This route was getting you nowhere as well. This was becoming ridiculously frustrating.

     With a heavy sigh, you settled in to wait by the bus stop, messaging Niles to let him know that you didn't come up with much of anything of major note. There didn't seem to be anything that really tied these drop-off sites together. The only real link seemed to be that they were out of the way and out of immediate sight from the street. There were too many places that fit those criteria around Detroit. You scrolled through the list of the other locations you'd been given and couldn't see much of anything else that linked the places up. It wasn't long before Niles joined you by the bus stop and confirmed your fears that he too hadn't gotten any information from anyone in the area. The two of you agreed it'd be best to head back to the precinct for now. So you sent a quick message to the other duo informing them as such. Connor quickly responded with a quick message of 'Safe travels' and that they hadn't seen anything yet either, but that they would continue to stake out the place.

 

~.~.~.~.~.~.~

 

    As you left with Niles in tow you couldn't help but feel like there were eyes drilling into the back of your head, just constantly watching you, and it set you on edge. Even as the two of you got into the auto-cab and set off back to the precinct the feeling didn't go away. You distantly registered Niles giving you concerned glances every now and again throughout the ride but you waved him off. The unsettling feeling didn't go away until you stepped into the relative safety of the station building. Wordlessly you continued to your desk and as you sat down you noticed that Chris was gone, probably still out on patrols. You vaguely noticed Niles walk over to his own desk as you got to work writing up what you found at the drop sites and added to you investigation notes as well.

 

    It wasn't until after you finished submitting your report that you allowed yourself to relax. As you leaned back in your chair you passed the time by re-reviewing your notes, hoping that Hank and Connor would be able to get something out of staking out the drop site. You rested your head against the top of your chair and closed your eyes, just needing to take a moment for yourself. God that lady gave you the creeps big time. You probably should have been more tactful in your questions but hindsight is always 20/20. Now if only you could just get over the weird vibe she'd given off as you'd left. Every part of you screamed that something was wrong. Something dangerous was coming. It was just paranoia (y/n). Come on, you know better. You were pulled from your thoughts as even footsteps approached your desk and came to a stop.

 

    "Excuse me, (y/n)?"

 

    When you opened your eyes and looked over you saw Niles standing on the other side of your desk. You quirked a brow at him.

 

    "What's up, Niles?"

 

    He shifts from his weight from foot to foot. The sight surprised you, it was one of the first times you’d really seen the android fidget. Especially given how generally stoic Niles tended to be.

 

    "I had...a bit of a personal question for you."

 

    That had you sitting upright.

 

    "Um, alright. Shoot."

 

    "I need to know more about soulmates."

 

    "...Whyyy can you not just look that up? There's plenty of information out there online."

 

    "Because the question pertains to a more...personal aspect regarding my own situation."

 

    "Oh."

 

    "..May I proceed?"

 

    "Yeah, totally. Go for it."

 

    "I wished to ask how one would-"

 

    "Hey dumb and dumber."

 

    Gavin appeared from behind Niles and you immediately felt your mood do a 180. You gave him a bored expression, quirking an eyebrow, as he sat on the edge of your desk.

 

    "So. Hank's your soulmate huh?"

 

    "Detective Reed!"

 

    Niles looked at him angrily. So that must've been who told him. Hell, you don't even know exactly how Niles could've known in the first place since you didn't tell him. However, Gavin looked completely unaffected by the android's tone and simply looked at you and your stupified expression.

 

    "To be fair I already put it together from back when you ended up on the floor during the late shift a few years back. Just surprised you haven't fessed up yet."

 

    You open and close your mouth a few times as your thoughts play catch-up with the whole suddenness of the situation.

 

    "If you knew for so long then why'd you have to act like an ass this morning?"

 

    Gavin's face flushed around his cheeks.

 

    "Well...I uh..." He looked off to the side awkwardly. "Look this isn't about me okay?"

 

    You shook your head, quickly getting annoyed by the detective.

 

    "Not okay, not really. Since you so clearly know who my soulmate is, then tell me yours."

 

    "What?! No!"

 

    "Why not? It only seems fair."

 

    "No, it's not!"

 

    "Yes, it is!"

 

    "No fucking way!"

 

    "Why not? Too fucking scared?"

 

    "Absolutely not!"

 

    "Then say who it is?!"

 

    "At least I've told my soulmate about it!"

 

    That shut you up real quick as you blushed all the way to your ears. Gavin visibly winced as Niles glared at him.

 

    "...Sorry. That was a low blow and not the reason why I even came over here."

 

    You rub the back of your neck and nod. Niles sighs and straightens himself up with his hands behind his back.

 

    "If the two of you are now done being completely childish-"

 

    "Heeey," Gavin whined and you gave Niles a hard look, your face still heated in embarrassment.

 

    "The fact of the matter is that today has been quite enlightening as to the nature of (y/n) and Hank's relationship."

 

    "Or lack thereof," Gavin muttered under his breath.

 

     Niles gently hit the back of Gavin's head, annoyance clear on his face.

 

    "Gavin please shut up. Now (y/n), I have asked for Gavin's assistance with getting you and Hank better acquainted."

 

    "We're already acquainted well enough, Niles."

 

    Gavin huffed a laugh and Niles looked at you unimpressed.

 

    "Clearly not if today is an example of this acquaintance of yours."

 

    "Well, that...that.."

 

    "If things are to improve at the precinct then you and Hank need to be on more amicable terms. Since Connor and I have been unable to bring these results about, I decided to bring in a more human aspect to help. Thus Gavin."

 

    "And what if I don't want any of y'all's help?"

 

    He blinked and stared at you confused, clearly not understanding why you wouldn't. Gavin spoke up after the short lull.

 

    "Too bad. I don't know about everybody else but I'm sick and tired of seeing how the two of you act around each other since Hank turned to drowning himself in booze. Hell, I was sick of how buddy-buddy the two of you were before but the sulking and dancing around each other is somehow worse."

 

    You stared down at your hands balled up in your lap.

 

    "Look. I get it. You don't want help cause you and Hank are both ridiculously stubborn. But it's okay to accept help from us you know?"

 

    It would be so easy to just tell them. To talk about what had happened that night. About what all had led up to it. All the words that had been thrown around between the two of you. It'd be too easy really.

 

    "No, it's not. Not really."

 

    "What? Why not??"

 

    Gavin stood up from your desk and whirled around, both of his hands resting on the desk.

 

    "I. You guys don't even know why things are like this. This whole thing of making us hang out together more isn't going to help, not really."

 

    "Is it not because of Cole?"

 

    Niles leaned in as well, looking concerned. It was somewhat odd to see him be so visibly expressive.

 

    "I'll admit that that was a part of it...but that wasn't the exact reason why we became distant.."

 

    "We can't help then if you don't tell us."

 

    You felt a wry smile pull at your features.

 

    "Then it seems like it'd be better for me not to tell you anything don't ya think?"

 

    "Incorrect. If you don't tell us anything we will only continue to stumble around in an effort to make things better. Not telling us the original problem will not stop us from trying to rectify the situation."

 

    The silence that followed stretched on, both of them waiting on you to say something. Anything really that would supposedly help them to help you. But they can't fix this. Honestly, you doubt the situation will ever get better. Hell, Hank probably doesn't even remember any of what went down. He was most likely too drunk that night, the whole day really, to be able to recall what went down. So was it really that fair of you to keep this up? In some ways yes. Because what he had said was clearly from the heart. You were just respecting his wishes after all.

 

     After a few moments more, you shook your head with a sigh.

 

    "The two of you can do whatever the hell you want but I'm going home."

 

    "But-"

 

    "(Y/n)-"

 

    You stood up abruptly and cut both of them off.

 

    "No. I'm going home and that's that."

 

    You grabbed your coat and bag and put both on quickly, avidly avoiding the boys' gazes. Even as you walked out of the bullpen you could feel them watching your back as you left.

 

~.~.~.~.~.~.~

 

    The sun had disappeared from the sky a few hours ago and the dim light within the bus was still a sharp contrast to the poorly lit streets outside the main city. The bus ride itself was uneventful for the most part. The only thing that bugged you was seeing the businessman from the morning sit down in front of you once more despite the fact that you were sitting alone this time. It made anxiety and unease settle in your gut like a pile of rocks. It was sickening. You held your bag close to you in your lap and kept as neutral of a face as you could manage, keeping your gaze firmly fixed out the window to your right. Every now and again you readjusted your shoulders so as to relax your posture, checking your phone once just as you normally would. The display read: 8:46 pm on December 7th, 2038. No new notifications.

 

    As you got closer to your stop you had never been more relieved and happy to see your apartment complex through the plexiglass windows of the bus. You pulled the string to call for a stop as per usual and the bus came to a slow halt at your stop. As you walked off the bus and stepped into the winter night air it was normally just you who got off at this stop, but this time as you started to walk away you heard other footsteps behind you. You couldn't look behind you to see whom it was without raising suspicion so you kept your eyes forward as you carefully walked through the light dusting of snow that had settled on the sidewalk. Before you could make it to your building suddenly a heavy weight fell on your back and caused you to fall onto your hands and knees.

 

    "Oh geez, I'm so sorry ma'am. Are you okay?"

 

    You sat up on your knees and looked behind you, almost instantly recognizing the businessman. His brown hair fell into his face a bit as he looked at you concerned. His beanie was missing. Something about his expression and face didn't look right.

 

    "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine."

 

    "I'm glad."

 

    He stood up and offered his hand to you. You instead stood up on your own, not trusting the man. He seemed unoffended by your decision as he rubbed the back of his neck.

 

    "The snow's surprisingly slippery huh? You should be careful about getting home."

 

    Then he picked up his briefcase and walked away in the other direction without another word. You stared at his back for a few moments as he walked away before taking a moment to look at your hands. The bandaging that you still had on protected your hand from being scraped up or from reopening the cuts from when you'd fallen out the window. You looked to where the man had been walking away but could no longer see him. Why the hell did he follow you if he needed to go the other way? You readjusted your bag and took a quick look to make sure everything was where it was supposed to be. Satisfied that nothing had been taken from your bag you checked your jacket pockets. When you checked the pocket where your phone was you felt the solid mass that was your phone and something else crinkle, something that was definitely not in your pocket a few moments ago.

 

     You slowly put your right hand into your right hand, silently hoping that maybe it was just a receipt you'd forgotten about. Instead, you pulled out some kind of folded piece of sketch paper. When you opened it up a cold chill raced down your spine and caused your hands to shake. All that was on it was a delicately drawn lily.

 

    Immediately you crumpled the paper up and shoved it back into your pocket. There was no way right? They'd been this close this whole time? Did they know exactly who you were? What about Hank? Connor? Niles? Oh god. It felt like there were eyes watching your every move from every which way out here. You needed to get off the streets and back to the safety of your apartment immediately.

 

    As your heartbeat pounded in your ears the snow crunched beneath your feet. You hustled up to your apartment, taking the stairs two at a time. Once you got to your floor you kept up the pace and made your way down the hall to your door. Just as soon as it was in sight, however, you stopped dead in your tracks. The angle of it didn’t look right. The pounding of your heartbeat drowned at all other noises, even your own heavy breathing. You slowly approached the door and saw that it was hanging open just ever so slightly. Alarm bells were ringing in your head. You knew for a fact that you had locked up the apartment before you left that morning. Be careful getting home huh? Shit.

 

     Pulling out your phone you dialed 9-1-1 but didn't hit call just yet, slowly pushing the door open so you could peer inside. A couple of inches was all it took and then you could see inside well enough from the sliver of light that entered from the hallway. The coffee table was upturned and the couch was askew, the cushions looked like they'd been tossed elsewhere. The coat closet had been emptied, with coats, scarves, hats, and anything you stored in there had been strewn about the entryway.

 

    "Fuck me...," You muttered under your breath at the sight. In a lot of ways it faintly reminded you of Antonio Taylor's apartment.

 

    You paused there for a few moments, your ears straining to hear if there was anyone within the apartment. The only sounds seemed to come from outside of the apartment. A car revved it's engine outside and drove past the building. A dog barked somewhere out in the distance. But nothing like footsteps. And the only sound of breathing was your own. You shoved your phone in your pocket and grabbed your gun from out of the top of your bag, keeping it pointed at the ground. Better to be safe than sorry for cases like this. You slowly pushed the door open with your shoulder, thanking the gods that the hinges didn't squeak. Setting your bag by the open doorway you held your gun up and flipped the light switch. The lights turned on like normal. The place was an absolute wreck but there was nothing you could do about it just yet. Every sense was on high alert, you were ready to fire at the first thing that moved as was evident by the way your finger twitched against the trigger. Slowly you took careful and quiet steps as you searched the rooms in your apartment where someone could possibly hide, your gun steadily held in your right hand all the while. Every room had been turned over and wrecked with items covering the floors.

 

    You found no one. As you lowered your gun you leaned heavily into the hallway wall, you felt absolutely exhausted already. With a sigh, you sank into a sitting position on the ground with your back still against the wall. You needed to call and report the break-in. You also needed to check and make sure that nothing had been taken. Placing your gun on the ground you pulled your phone from your pocket. 9-1-1 was still dialed on the screen and you hit the call button. As the call rang you closed your eyes and rested your head on the wall. It only rang twice before you were connected to an operator.

 

    "Hello, this is 9-1-1."

 

    "Yes hello, this is Lieutenant (L/n) of the Detroit Police. I'd like to report a break-in at my apartment. As far as I can tell currently the apartment is empty and nothing seems to be missing from what I can immediately tell."

 

    "Very well. Nearby officers have been dispatched to your location."

 

    "Thank you."

 

    You hung up after that. You hoped that whoever was sent over got here soon. With a groan, you forced yourself to stand back up and make your way back to the entryway where you left your bag by the open door. You clicked the safety back on and placed the gun back in your bag before gently shutting the door, resting your forehead against the cool wood after it clicked shut. There was no doubt in your mind that this was meant to be a warning from The Morticians to back off on the investigation, lest something worse occurs. That lady at the 7/11 must've been a rat or was connected to them in some way. Shouldn't have been so ambitious with your questioning. Now you just had to wait for officers to arrive. You weren't sure if you wanted it to be someone you knew or not. So you settled for sitting on the against the wall of the entryway, too drained to deal with anything else just yet.

 

    In reality, you knew that it was barely even more than 5 minutes before there was knocking on your door, but the silence of the apartment made it feel like it was an eternity. You stood up and answered the door. As soon as it swung open you were greeted by the worried expression of one Chris Miller, his partner standing off to the side just behind him.

 

 

    "You know this isn't really how I wanted my first time coming over to be like (y/n)."

 

    "Me neither Miller. Me neither."

 

    You stepped aside and opened the door wide, allowing both officers to enter the mess that was your apartment. You followed the two from room to room, generally hanging back to let them do their job. They confirmed what you had already done on your own. The person who did this was no longer on the premises and, in spite of the mess, nothing was missing. Or at least nothing of any real value anyhow. The three of you ended up back in the living room right by the entryway. Chris directed his partner to go back to the car and start writing up the report from the tablet in there. Then he turned to you, business face falling away almost immediately.

 

    "How you holding up there?"

 

    You shrugged.

 

    "Holding up well enough I guess...Could've done without all this though if I'm being honest."

 

    He hummed and nodded.

 

    "I'd be worried if you  _were_  perfectly fine with someone breaking into your home. Or more worried at least."

 

    That got a huff of laughter from you.

 

    "I should probably get cleaning up."

 

    "You sure you're gonna be alright here?"

 

    "Yeah. Yeah, I'll be fine." You gave him a show of flexing your arm. "I'm a tough old girl."

 

    Chris shook his head in amusement but didn't make any move to leave.

 

    "I know you are. I just don't feel great about leaving you alone here in this if I'm being honest."

 

    "I doubt anything else is going to happen tonight. Pretty sure this was just a warning."

 

    "That doesn't exactly make it better (y/n)."

 

    "I know.."

 

    He sighed and put his hand on your shoulder.

 

    "Look, do you have somewhere to go? You could stay at my place if you wanted? Hell, I'd even take you staying at a motel or something for the night."

 

    You worried your lip in thought.

 

    "I'm not exactly flush with cash so motel is kind of out of the question...And no offense to you or your family, but I don't exactly do well around very small children."

 

    "No offense taken." He squeezed your shoulder. "I take it you won't let me pay for a room for you huh?"

 

    "You would assume correctly."

 

    The two of you sat in silent thought, trying to figure something out.

 

~.~.~.~.~.~.~

 

    This whole thing is what eventually led to you biting the bullet and calling Hank to see if you could stay at his place for the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the bout of jealous Hank, miscommunication/misunderstanding leading to jealousy as a trope is not one i enjoy but i needed it for my purposes :/ i guess the only justification i have is that Hank is insecure and self-deprecating to a certain extent...
> 
> also, do you guys prefer shorter chapters? which would mean quicker updates. or longer chapters? which would mean slower updates.


	5. Minor Interlude

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Turns out that having your home broken into is a great reason to stay with the person you have a complicated emotional connection with.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not dead yet!! Not abandoning this either!

     This whole thing is what eventually led to you biting the bullet and calling Hank to see if you could stay at his place for the night. After explaining the situation he agreed and Chris gave you a ride over after you packed a small overnight bag. The car ride was mostly silent, Chris giving you some time to gather yourself. He knew a lot about the reasons for the tension between you and Hank. But, unbeknownst to you, he also greatly endorsed what Connor and Niles were at least attempting to do. Though he probably wasn't going to mention that to you any time soon. Not yet at least anyhow.

 

     As the car pulled into the driveway you recognized Hank's car in front of you and the familiar house. 115 Michigan Drive. What a familiar sight. The porch light was on and the soft light it threw on the snow was so seemingly peaceful. It felt...nice..to be back here. You stepped out of the car with your bag in hand and thanked Chris for the ride before stepping across the yard to the walkway that led up to the front door. You could see that the tv was on through the front window as you got closer. It sounded like some kind of sports channel from what you could hear through the door. You waved to Chris so he could drive off and you watched as the police car drove away back down the road. A shiver ran through you as a cold breeze passed by you. You steeled your nerves and knocked on the door. The sound of heavy footsteps responded on the other side of the door and got closer before the door was swung open. You were immediately greeted by the sight of Hank standing there in the doorway in a familiar outfit of a grey police academy hoodie and black sweatpants. He opened the door wider and stepped aside so you entered into the house quickly. The door was quickly shut behind you and Hank leaned up against the door, giving you a look you couldn't place. It seemed far too warm a look for him to be directing at you of all people. So you chose to go with going the polite route rather than continue that train of thought.

 

    "Thanks again Hank for letting me stay here tonight. Chris wasn't keen on me staying at my place."

 

    "I'd be shocked if he  _was_  fine with it. You holding up okay?"

 

    You set your bag down and your polite smile fell in exhaustion.

 

    "I'm...holding it together right now...Just kind of-"

 

    "Boof!" A dog bark interrupted you as a large something bumped against the back of your legs, nearly sending you to the ground once more this evening.

 

    "Oh come on you big oaf, leave her alone."

 

    You looked down and was delighted to see the big St. Bernard, Sumo. God, it's been forever since you've seen him. You bent down and ran your hands through his soft fur which had the big dog wagging excitedly.

 

    "Hey there, Sumo. How've you been big boy? Have you been good?"

 

    You got a soft bark in response and the dog leaned into you heavily. It got a bit of laughter from you and you already felt more relaxed.

 

    "Sumo's been good. Probably haven't been getting out as much as he needs to though. Pretty sure he missed you..."

 

    You stood back up and looked at Hank curiously as he scratched at his cheek.

 

    "Probably not the only one huh...," You muttered beneath your breath. Was he actually blushing at that?

 

    "Should get you settled in since it's getting pretty late and all."

 

    "That would be appreciated." You shouldered your bag once more and followed Hank into the living room and as soon as he made a move to go down the hallway to his bedroom you froze. "H-Hank?"

 

    "Hm?" He stopped in the doorway and looked back at you with a raised brow. Sumo sat down next to you.

 

    "I can just stay on the couch y' know? I'm only just gonna be here for the night and I can't kick you out of your bed. That-That'd be just...incredibly rude."

 

    "You just expect me to let you, a guest, sleep on the couch."

 

    "Yeah. I mean it's only for one night. So it's really not that big of a deal."

 

    Hank opened his mouth to retort but instead, a yawn pushed it's way out. He gave a glare at your amused expression.

 

    "You shush."

 

    "I didn't say anything."

 

    The frown on his face deepened before he turned and walked into his room with a roll of his eyes.

 

    "You can stay on the couch for tonight I guess. Too tired for this shit honestly."

 

    His voice was muffled but you could still hear him well enough. You set your bag down at your feet before sitting on the arm of the couch. Sumo came over and sat down on your foot, demanding pets in the most dog-like of fashions. So you acquiesced and ruffled his fur by his neck and along his back, reveling in the feeling of comfort it brought to your frayed nerves. It was as this occurred that you heard Hank's footfalls come back down the hallway and stop in the living room. You could feel the telltale prickle of being watched. But this time it didn't feel like alarm bells going off like what had been the case all throughout today. Maybe it's cause it was Hank. When you looked over at him he had the oddest expression on his face. It looked...peaceful and serene. It was an expression you hadn't seen in a very long time. Or at least not directed at you. But especially that little quirk of a smile that was just so...Hank. The whole little moment was nice. It was broken as soon as Hank realized you were looking at him. He raised the pile of blankets and a pillow in his arms.

 

     "Brought you stuff for the couch."

 

    You gave him a tired smile as you got up and took the items from him.

 

    "Thanks."

 

    "It's no problem."

 

    As you arranged the blankets and pillow to your liking you glanced around, realizing that someone was missing.

 

    "Where's Connor at? Doesn't he stay with you?"

 

    "Huh? Oh. Yeah, he does live here with me. Though he said that Nines needed him at the station for something urgent." Hank shrugged and you felt a headache forming. He must've noticed your mood take a dive as he gave you a questioning look.

 

    "Pretty sure I have an idea as to what the 'urgent matter' was."

 

    "Should I be worried?"

 

    "No. I wouldn't if I were you."

 

    You waved it off and he just shrugged with a huff of a laugh.

 

    "Alright, well I'm gonna head to bed. You all good out here?"

 

    "Yeah, I'll be alright. Unless you've somehow drastically changed the layout of your home in the last few years I'm pretty sure I remember where everything is."

 

    "Alright, smartass. Sleep well. See ya in the morning."

 

    "Same to you, Hank."

 

    With that, he walked off back down the hall and into his room before he softly shut the door. Seemed like Sumo would be keeping you company out here tonight.

 

     So you went about getting ready for bed. Removing your jacket and scarf, setting them on the coat hooks by the door. Grabbing pajamas, toothbrush, and toothpaste from your bag and going into the bathroom to get ready. You changed into the same pj shorts and tank top you'd worn to bed for a few nights in a row now. You needed to remember to do laundry soon. Then you brushed your teeth. As you started you realized you hadn't eaten since lunch. But found you weren't even really hungry. It was probably because of the stress of this whole evening. As you finished up in the bathroom you set your clothes, toothbrush, and toothpaste back into your bag. Then you went around and shut off lights -- except for the porch light just in case for when Connor came back -- and made sure things were locked up. Once that was done you got settled onto your makeshift bed on the couch, bundling the blankets around you. Sumo settled down on his own bed in the corner of the living room. You fell asleep almost immediately as you settled.

 

     You dreamt of Cole again.

 

_This time it was the two of you sitting in the living room. Cole was sitting on the couch working on homework and you were sitting on the floor on the other side of the coffee table. You were helping him every now and again when he asked for it and looked like he really needed it. Right now was a lull between questions and you were softly petting Sumo who had his head resting on your thigh. The scratch of Cole's pencil stopped and his hesitant voice filled the space instead._

_"Hey (y/n)?"_

_"Hm? Need some more help?"_

_"No...It's not that.."_

_You sat up straighter, noticing Cole worrying his lip between his teeth and waited patiently for him to continue._

_"Do you...Do you like being here and doing all of this? With dad and me?"_

_You blinked a few times in surprise._

_"I...I do yes."_

_He didn't look convinced._

_"What would you be doing instead if you weren't doing this?"_

_You paused and thought for a moment, coming up blank._

_"Honestly...I don't know. I'd probably still just be living day-to-day without any real goal in mind."_

_You placed your hands, palm up, on the table as you gazed at Cole concerned. He gingerly placed his smaller hands in yours and held on tightly, keeping his own gaze focused on his lap._

_"What brought all this on anyway Cole?"_

_"Dad...dad said that you would probably be leaving soon.." He hiccuped in-between words and you had an idea as to why. "He said that you would stop coming around...cause it was too much of a strain on you.."_

_"Well, that's news to me."_

_He looked up at you, eyes bright with tears. The sight made your heart clench painfully._

_"Really?"_

_"Really."_

_You took your left hand back and reached over the table and gently wiped the tears from his cheek._

_"Ultimately it's your dad's decision whether or not I can come over. But as far as I'm concerned, coming here, getting to see you, your dad, and Sumo is the highlight of my day. I wouldn't trade anything in the world for this."_

_He gave you a wobbly smile and nodded in understanding._

_"I don't want you to go away (y/n)."_

_You felt a warmth spread through your chest as he looked at you._

_"I'm here for as long as you want me to be, bud."_

_You gently patted his cheek before placing your hands back in your lap as you settled back into your spot on the floor._

_"Let's get back to work, okay? The sooner you get it done, the better chance we have of going and getting ice cream before your dad gets home."_

_He grinned at you, his eyes still red-rimmed from crying._

_"Alright."_

 

    Then there was the gentle smell of coffee. Sumo was nosing at your hand that'd been hanging off the front of the couch. You were definitely awake now. Sitting up with a groan you stretched out the stiffness that had settled in from sleeping on the well-worn couch in the first place. Connor came over with a full mug of coffee and handed it to you.

 

    "Good morning, (y/n). One cup of coffee with plenty of cream and sugar."

 

    "Oh. Yes. Good morning, thank you."

 

    You accepted the offered mug and took a tentative sip. It didn't have as much sugar as you would've liked but it was good enough to help wake you up and was also a welcome surprise start to your day. Sumo followed Connor back towards the kitchen.

 

    "While I get breakfast together could you please make sure Hank is awake? He has a tendency to purposefully sleep in past his alarms."

 

    "Um, sure. I can try anyway...What time is it anyhow?"

 

    You set your coffee mug down on the table.

 

    "It is currently 8:30 am on December 8th."

 

    "What?!"

 

    You threw off the blankets and tumbled onto the floor, landing roughly on your hands and knees. It was past the time when you were supposed to already be at the precinct! Fowler was going to kill you for sure. You forgot to set your alarm last night. Goddamnit!

 

    "Are you alright, Lieutenant (L/n)?"

 

    "Yeeeah...Just wish you woke me up sooner..."

 

    You sat back on your heels as you rubbed the last remnants of sleep from your eyes. No wonder you felt groggier than usual. You might as well just go along with their morning schedule at this point since there wasn't really any other way for you to get to the precinct in a timely manner. Slowly you stood up and rubbed at your stiff knees and back, kicking the blanket away with your feet. May as well check on Hank like you were asked. ....After you go to the bathroom first.

 

    Once you dealt with the call of nature you dried your hands and walked the few steps from the bathroom to Hank's bedroom door. You took a deep breath to settle the ball of anxiety that had knotted itself in your stomach before gently knocking on the door.

 

    "Hank? Are you up yet?"

 

    You could hear what might've been a startled grunt from the other side. Honestly, the expression on his face was probably pretty great but you had no real way of knowing for sure. As that thought crossed your mind you heard footsteps come towards the door and you managed to take a step back before the door swung open. Hank blankly stared at you for a moment, seemingly trying to process you standing there in front of him. You just kind of stood there awkwardly as well taking in his disheveled appearance. His grey t-shirt was obviously stained with what you guessed was most likely booze of some kind and the blue and grey striped boxers he wore looked wrinkled and worn. Your gaze snapped upwards immediately as you realized you'd been staring lower than you should've been.

 

    "Uh...Morning, (y/n)."

 

    "Morning. Connor wanted me to make sure you were up. Now that you are um... I'm just gonna let you get to it."

 

    "Uh-huh."

 

    You walked off, feeling his eyes on your back as you went back to the living room. He was probably just out of it from just waking up right? Yeah, definitely. Hank definitely didn't run his eyes over your body during those few seconds the two of you stood there. Definitely didn't. Was definitely imagining that. You absentmindedly ran your hands over your arms. You should probably get changed once Hank finishes up in the bathroom. You'll feel better then. Hopefully anyway. It was as good a plan as any at this point.

 

    So you did just that. Managing to avoid a second encounter with Hank while you went and changed in the bathroom into the same work outfit you always wore, making sure that you were layered up enough to be able to stay warm in the winter air. As you walked out and towards the kitchen, you noticed Connor had set the small table for breakfast and had even set your mug of coffee by one of the place settings. The whole room was framed by soft morning light coming from the windows and Connor was humming a tune to himself as he washed dishes, seemingly oblivious to your arrival. It seemed eerily reminiscent of how most of your own mornings usually go. It was rather endearing honestly.

 

    "So should I just pick a seat and sit? Or?"

 

    Connor jumped in surprise and then paused in doing dishes, turning the sink off and drying his hands.

 

    "I placed you over where your coffee is. Though if you would prefer to sit elsewhere that is also amenable."

 

    "I'm mostly teasing ya, Connor. This is wonderful honestly. Thank you."

 

    You gave him a grateful smile as you made your way to your seat. He gave you a quirky smile in return. It lit up his entire face and his expression almost reminded you of a puppy. That was probably the first time you've seen him so openly emotional around you. It eased a sense of tension you hadn't even realized you'd been holding. As you sat down, Hank walked into the kitchen. His pace stuttered ever so slightly as his gaze fell on you but he continued easily enough to the seat across from you at the table and sat down.

 

    "Morning Con. Food smells good."

 

    "Good morning, Hank. I can only hope it tastes as good as it smells."

 

    Connor took the seat between the two of you and both you and Hank dug into the breakfast of scrambled eggs, sausage, and home fries. It hit you immediately how underflavored the food was so you added salt and pepper to it which made it far more to your liking.

 

    "It tastes pretty amazing. Thanks for cooking."

 

    Connor gave you another of those little quirky smiles in appreciation.

 

    "I'm glad to hear it."

 

     The rest of the meal continued in companionable silence as you and Hank ate and Connor busied himself with something that you couldn't visibly see. Maybe he was talking with Niles or something? The rest of the meal continued the same. Though every now and then you could see Hank glancing at you when he thought you weren't looking. It almost felt like he was searching for something in your expression or actions. It was impossible to tell without actually asking him. Fuck it. What do you have to lose by asking?

 

    "Do I have something on my face?"

 

    Hank paused just as he was about to take another bite of egg with a raised brow.

 

    "What do ya mean?"

 

    "You keep looking at me like I do."

 

    "Oh."

 

    He glanced down at his plate owlishly, blinking a few times. It almost looked like he was....embarrassed? It was hard to tell because of the beard. But it definitely seemed to be the case. Connor looked between the two of you and shrugged.

 

    "If it helps, it has been a while since he's had someone to eat with. That may be why he keeps looking at you."

 

    "You've been here though?"

 

    "But I can't really eat food."

 

    "Oh. Right. That's true. Fair enough I suppose."

 

    You shrugged and went back to eating. Hank hesitantly did so as well, studiously keeping his gaze focused on his plate. Now you felt kind of like an asshole for bringing it up at all. Honestly, it was probably because it'd been a very long time since the two of you had sat across from one another like this. Not much you could do about it now but file these feelings away to deal with later and move on with the rest of your day.

 

    After the two of you finished eating Connor scooped up the plates and started washing them, completely ignoring your insistence on doing so yourself since he cooked. Instead, he shooed you off to go finish getting yourself ready to go since the three of you would be leaving in just a few minutes. You begrudgingly complied. So you tidied up your makeshift bed before getting your shoes and coat on. Then you went and made sure you had your workbag and overnight all put together as they should be before you slung your workbag over your shoulder and hefted your overnight bag in your hand. It was as you did so that Hank came back into the living room looking ready to go with keys in hand.

 

    So the three of you headed out the door and Hank locked up behind you. After putting your bag in the backseat next to Connor you hopped into the front seat. Seems you were once again forced to sit shotgun. Hank got into the driver's seat and started up the engine. Once you were buckled in, Hank reversed the car out of the driveway and onto the street. Then it was off to the precinct as though it was any other day. You glanced at your phone and saw you had a message from Niles that was from earlier in the morning.

 

    [7:18 am]     ' _I feel I must apologize for how things transpired at the precinct yesterday between Gavin, yourself, and I. My intentions were not based in malice nor in the idea of ganging up on you in any such way. I do hope that you can forgive my mistake. Or at the very least I can only hope you'll accept my apology._ '

 

    It was certainly something. It certainly felt like he was being sincere, or at least as openly sincere as he could be with you. But you didn't have it in your heart to really respond to him yet. Or deal with Gavin for that matter. You slumped down in your seat with a soft sigh as you stuffed your phone back into your pocket, keeping to yourself the rest of the ride. The silence in the car wasn't oppressive this time, at least from what you could tell. It was a little prickly but overall it was comfortable enough. That silence continued between the three of you all the way to the precinct.

 

~.~.~.~.~.~.~

 

    After showing your badges off at the entrance of the underground garage Hank parked deftly and hopped out without a word. You and Connor trailed behind him into the elevator and entered the precinct. The two of them made their way to their desks and you made a beeline for your own, making a point to avoid eye contact with Niles or Gavin. Why was it only a Wednesday? If it were the weekend then you wouldn't have to worry about dealing with the fallout from last night's "conversation" with them. All you could do was hope for a normal work day and hope that Hank and Connor found something during their second bout of stakeout. Otherwise, this case has hit a cold dead stop.

 

    Thankfully the day was spent mostly writing up and filing reports. It almost felt relieving to return to your normal work day. Though you could do without having to interact with some of the more unpleasant individuals. But it helped to keep busy. Especially since Chris had an early morning patrol so you had yet to see him since last night. You should probably message him about wanting to cancel drinks for tonight. You didn't really feel safe going out again so soon after last night. Hell, even the idea of going back to your apartment right away was a terrifying thought.

 

    It was around midday by this point and you found yourself sitting at your desk lost in your head. Your fingers were still poised over the keys of your keyboard but nothing was forthcoming. You stared through your monitor screen, not really focusing on anything. Then you heard footsteps come up to the front of your desk and whoever it was cleared their throat to get your attention. You flinched ever so slightly and looked up to see Niles standing there with his hands behind his back. You felt your stomach drop into a pit but kept your face carefully neutral. Niles looked incredibly hesitant. He opened his mouth to speak but then shut it again.

 

    "I um. ...I suppose you saw my message from this morning yes?"

 

    "I did yeah."

 

    "Ah. Okay. Um. How...are you today? I heard about the incident at your apartment last night."

 

    You paused, unsure of how to respond.

 

    "I'm...well enough.."

 

    Niles opened his mouth to speak, concern pinching up his features, but was interrupted by Gavin.

 

    "Hey, plastic! We need to get a move on already. Come on."

 

    Niles glanced behind him before looking back at you.

 

    "I truly am sorry about upsetting you, (y/n). I hope your day goes well."

 

    You gave him a curt nod and he left with Gavin. Goddamn, you were on a roll of upsetting just about everyone today huh. You rubbed your hand over your eyes as you leaned back in your chair. Today definitely got off on the wrong foot and was definitely not getting better at this rate. All the stuff you'd been trying to compartmentalize felt like it was trying to claw it's ways out from the depths of your mind. Threatening to shred you into nothing. It felt like a giant wave cresting and just teetering on the edge of coming crashing down upon you. To sweep you away to who knows were. You've only been at work a few weeks now. So how the hell are you already this absolutely exhausted?

 

    "(Y/n)!" Your head snapped up and you saw Fowler standing on the landing in front of his office door. "My office in five."

 

    You nodded your head enough for him to see it and he went back into his office. You glanced at your monitor and saw the blank report document just sitting there, the writing cursor blinking. Vaguely you wondered just how much worse this day could possibly get. You could be sent out and get shot? That would be worse. Or getting kidnapped? That would also be worse. You huffed a sigh before standing up from your desk. Might as well go and see what Jeffery had to say to you now. You just hoped it wouldn't be another order to take time off because that sucked ass last time.

 

    After gently shutting the glass door behind you, you quietly sat down in one of the chairs in front of his desk. Fowler was still on the phone with someone but had noticed when you came in, giving you a silent wave to come in when you had poked your head in. You pointedly did your best not to listen into the conversation. Though your efforts didn't really matter since he finished up on the phone and placed it back on the receiver with a click.

 

    "I read the report about the break-in at your apartment."

 

    He leaned forward with his hands on his desk, a careful look of concern on his face. Whereas you went from sitting back and relaxed in the chair to ramrod straight.

 

    "...Sir?"

 

    He held up a placating hand.

 

    "Before you start panicking I'm not going to just force you off this investigation. Hell, I know that you'd probably just go out on your own with it and get into an even more shit because of that." Then he put his hand back down with a sigh. "Look just be honest with me. Was your apartment wrecked by The Morticians?"

 

    You worried your lip and looked off to the right, rubbing at your right wrist, before you answered.

 

    "I believe so yes. Especially given the paper that was left in my coat pocket right before I arrived home."

 

    He hummed and rubbed his temple. He looked like he was thinking about what to do and you could only hope for the best possible scenario. Maybe it would just be a limited amount of time on your own or something along those lines? Fowler sighed.

 

    "Alright... You stayed with Hank last night yes?"

 

    "Yes."

 

    "I think it would best for you to continue either staying with him or staying elsewhere. And I say this because clearly, it's too risky for you to continue to be at your apartment during this investigation since these people have demonstrated they could kill you easily if they wanted to. I'd be an idiot of a Captain to ignore such a threat to one of my own. Do you understand Lieutenant?"

 

    You opened your mouth to speak but closed it. Instead just nodding your head.

 

    "Okay. So which would you prefer: Staying with Hank? Or staying at a hotel? Or another officer?"

 

    You worriedly bit your lip before sighing, knowing damn well what you would end up choosing no matter what. Stupid comfort zones and all that nonsense.

 

    "I would like to continue staying with Lieutenant Anderson, sir."

 

    "Very well. I'll talk to him about the plan so don't worry about having to bring it up."

 

    "Okay. Thank you.."

 

     You stood up as he nodded and made your way out of his office. At first, once you made it down the stairs, you started to walk towards your desk. Then you turned on your heel and then went to the bathroom instead. You needed a moment to yourself. Honestly, it almost felt like you needed to cry but you doubted you would actually allow yourself to do so. After shutting the door behind to the bathroom you went and checked to make sure the stalls were empty. Once you were sure that that was the case you stood at the sink, leaning against it with your hands gripping the white ceramic. It felt chilly to your left hand but you couldn't tell with your right. You stared at the smudges and spots that seemed to be permanent stains in the bowl of the sink.

 

     Last night you were definitely too tired to really process all of what was happening at the time. But here you were the next day and you actually had a quiet moment to yourself. You could very well have been killed last night. One more misstep like asking the wrong question to the wrong person could very well mean the end of your life. And there was no doubt in your mind that The Morticians were not the kind to give officers a swift and painless death. The idea of being slowly tortured to death wasn't an appealing one. Especially because you know that Hank would also feel every single agonizing thing if that happened. You've put him through far more than you probably had any right to as his soulmate. He probably wouldn't hold it against you if he knew. But he might. You don't know that he won't. Maybe he does already know. He's not an idiot after all. And if he does know that's probably why he was so angry with you that night. Why he so vehemently wanted you gone.

 

_Plip. Plip._

 

     The sound of water hitting the sink brought you out of your thoughts and you realized you were crying. The tears slipped silently down your cheeks as you stood there and choked down the sobs that wanted to break free. When had that started happening? Your arms were shaking and you couldn't feel your legs underneath you. It felt like a hole was clawing its way through your chest. What the hell? Was the thought of Hank hating you that soul-crushing? You hadn't even realized how much hope you still held in your heart. Otherwise, this feeling of hurt wouldn't be nearly as bad as it was. It felt like your legs were just about to give out so you just barely managed to stumble over to the wall of the bathroom before you used it to slide into a sitting position on the floor, much like at your apartment. You bit down on your right hand to stifle the sobs and let the tears run freely, knowing that this needed to run its course.

 

~.~.~

 

      It was impossible to tell how long you sat there. But eventually the tears dried up and you were left feeling empty and exhausted with the occasional sniffle. You rub at your eyes, already knowing that they were going to be red-rimmed and puffy. Every part of your body ached and groaned as you forced yourself to stand up. When you looked at your face in the mirror you were met with the confirming sight of red puffy eyes from crying. So you ran the hot water in the sink and gently splashed into onto your eyes to help decrease the redness and puffiness around your eyes. It helped enough. Sure it was still a little pink around your eyes but it was enough that it wouldn't be immediately noticeable. You turn off the faucet and grabbed a few paper towels to dry off your face and hands. Once you patted the water off of your face you balled up the paper towels and tossed them into the trash bin. Then you took a deep breath to steady yourself before pushing open the bathroom door and making your way back to your desk.

 

    As you made it back into the bullpen you gave a friendly wave to a few officers that were just heading out, mostly because they had given you a wave when you met their gaze. Then you made it back to your desk and sat down. It was weird that Miller still hadn't come in from what you could tell. You should text him to see what was up. Or at least tell him that you couldn't do drinks tonight like the two of you had planned. As you grabbed your phone off your desk you saw that you had a few unread messages. What made it all the more surprising was that they were from Hank.

 

    [12:55 pm]     ' _just heard from Fowler about the staying over thing_ '

 

    [12:55 pm]     ' _you really sure you don't wanna be put up at a hotel or something instead?_ '

 

    [12:56 pm]     ' _not that you're not welcome or anything. just figured you might wanna stay somewhere more comfortable for you_ '

 

    [1:03 pm]     ' _you probably need to grab stuff if you're going to be staying over right?_ '

 

    You stared at your phone for a bit as you reread the words on the screen, hearing Hank's voice saying them in the back of your head. It made the corner of your mouth quirk up just a little bit. It also made you feel a bit stupid for the crying session earlier. He cared. At least in some manner. You don't message someone like that if you hated them. You ran your hands through your bangs with a small shake of your head. Then you sat back and typed out a response to Hank.

 

    [1:12 pm]     ' _Yes, please. if we could stop by my apartment on the way back from work so I could grab things that would be wonderful_ '

 

    Hank responded almost immediately.

 

    [1:12 pm]     ' _can do. still got a while before we'll be back_ '

 

    With a nod, you set your phone back onto your desk. Now you just had to keep yourself busy with these minor reports till then.

 

~.~.~.~.~.~.~

 

    It wasn't until around 7:45 pm that Hank and Connor made it back to the precinct, having switched out stakeout duty with Gavin and Niles. As the two of them wrote up their observations from the day you finished up with filing away a few reports. So as they were finishing up with their stuff you got your stuff together to go with them once again. As you shouldered your work bag you walked over to where Hank and Connor were by their desks.

 

    "So you two ready to get going?"

 

    Hank looked at you tiredly whereas Connor gave you a simple nod before he smoothly stood up. Hank sighed before standing up with a groan and you found yourself absent-mindedly messing with a frayed strand of thread on the strap of your bag.

 

    "Yeah, alright...You got everything?"

 

    "Yep."

 

    You gave a nod and he grunted in reply. Connor seemed oddly bemused. Then you followed the two of them back to the garage and the car once again. You sat shotgun, Hank was the driver, and Connor was in the back seat. How the hell he kept managing to engineer this you had no idea. Either way, it wasn't long before you were in route to your apartment. The car ride was filled by the sound of the radio softly playing some kind of heavy rock.

 

~.~.~

 

    It was almost kind of weird to see your apartment building once again as the car pulled into the parking lot. Once Hank parked you were unbuckling and opening the car door to get out.

 

    "I shouldn't be more than a few minu-"

 

    You stopped midsentence and midstep as Hank also got out of the car. Really you stood there with the door open, surprised and Hank gave you a questioning look over the roof of the car as he shut his door.

 

    "Well? We going or not?"

 

    "Um, yeah alright."

 

    You closed the passenger side door firmly and made sure your keys were in your pocket as you shouldered your overnight bag. Hank followed you into the building and as you made your way to the stairs he spoke up.

 

    "You live up on the fourth floor right?"

 

    You turned and gave him a curious look. He wouldn't meet your eyes.

 

    "Yeah. Hasn't changed clearly."

 

    "Think we could take the elevator instead?"

 

    You stood there with your hand poised on the stairwell railing as you mentally processed his request. Then you huffed a laugh and shook your head once.

 

    "We can take the elevator, yeah."

 

    "Thanks."

 

    He pushed the call button for the elevator and you came to stand next to him as the two of you waited. It didn't take long for it to arrive and you both stepped inside. You reached across and pressed the button for the fourth floor and then stepped back into place next to Hank, keeping a bit of space between you. As the doors shut and the elevator started to ascend you readjusted your bag and shifted your weight to rest on your right hip. Hank had his hands stuffed into his jacket pockets and shifted his weight from foot to foot. Once it reached the fourth floor and the doors opened again, you were the first one out and lead the way down the hall.

 

    As you stopped in front of your apartment door you pulled out your set of keys and went to unlock the door. It occurred in the back of your mind that the place was still absolutely trashed from last night. Fuck. You deftly opened the door and stuffed your keys back into your pocket. As you stepped in you set your bags down and turned the lights on, an odd sense of apprehension gripping your heart.

 

    "Um...Sorry about the mess. Didn't really get the chance to clean or anything like that."

 

    "It's totally fine (y/n)."

 

    He walked in behind you and shut the door. You could kind of sense how tense he was but shook it off, trying to make sure it didn't feed into your own anxiety about the situation. Grabbing your overnight bag you carefully stepped around the mess and made your way back to your bedroom. You called out behind you as you did so.

 

    "I would say you could make yourself comfortable but the mess kind of doesn't make that possible. So I'll be as quick as I can."

 

    "Don't worry about me. Just get yourself together yeah?"

 

    "Will do!"

 

    You stepped into your bedroom and turned on the overhead light. As the lights threw everything into sharp contrast you felt some of the tension leave your body. Part of you was almost certain that there was going to be one of those Mortician's guys just waiting for you in the dark. Fuckers definitely played into some of your paranoia when they broke in and ransacked the place. You shook your head and went about grabbing and switching out dirty clothes for a couple of sets of clean clothes, stuffing them into your bag. Making sure you had enough clothes for a few days you zipped up the bag.

 

     Glancing around the room you felt a sick feeling settle in your stomach. There was so much stuff just everywhere. It was impossible to tell what clothes that had been strewn about were originally clean or dirty at this point. Even the lamp and clock from your bedside table had been knocked to the floor. So had a handful of books you'd had in your room. Walking over towards the side of the bed you bent down and gently picked up the lamp, turning it to make sure the lightbulb hadn't been damaged. It looked fine from what you could tell so you carefully stood up with the lamp in hand and placed it back on the nightstand where it had previously been. Having it back where it should be made you feel a little bit better. But as you looked around the room the sick feeling in your stomach felt worse. The sheer mess of it all was too overwhelming. It hurt to look at. You wanted to clean it all up. Put everything back in order. You'd feel better then. Your hands would stop feeling like they were shaking. You'd stop feeling like you were going to throw up.

 

    The sound of knuckles rapping on wood caused your head to snap towards the door. Hank was standing in the doorway. He looked concerned.

 

    "Hey..."

 

    "H-hey."

 

    "You um...you got everything you need?"

 

    You took a shaky breath and looked over to where your bag was sitting on the bed.

 

    "Um...yeah. Yeah, I've got everything to keep me set for a bit.."

 

    He nodded and moved like he was going to take a step inside but paused, his weight shifting from foot to foot.

 

    "Stupid question but...are you okay?"

 

    You met his eyes briefly but then looked away, trying to form words. Your mouth kept opening and closing as you found yourself unable to choose to try and explain or just wave off these feelings as nothing.

 

    "You can just shake your head no if you're not you know?"

 

    You choked on a laugh and then bit down on your lip hard. Nodding once in answer. Oh if only you could be absolutely honest with him in every way. Instead, you just shook your head.

 

    "I'll be alright. Everything is just- It's all a mess. I'll be fine." You moved towards the bed and slung the bag over your shoulder before turning back towards Hank. "Let's just get going okay?"

 

    He frowned but nodded.

 

    "Okay."

 

    He led the way and you followed behind him, turning off lights and doing your best to avoid looking at the mess. You locked the door behind you and the two of you rode the elevator back to the ground floor. Then it was back out the doors of the apartment complex and back into the car. Connor politely greeted you and you just gave him a simple nod back, not trusting your voice much. As the car drove off you felt some of the nausea ebb somewhat. You needed to get ahold of yourself. Needed to at least seem like everything was fine. Needed to get through tonight. And the days following that.

 

~.~.~.~.~.~.~

 

     The car ride had been filled by the sound of music playing from the radio and you had spaced out for all of it. As the three of you entered into the house, Sumo lazily greeted all of you from his bed in the corner of the living room. You set your bags down against the wall as Hank and Connor removed their coats and put them on the coat hooks. As you shouldered out of your own coat the two boys moved further into the house, Hank heading towards the couch and Connor making a beeline for the kitchen. You guessed that the two of them probably discussed dinner plans in the car while you were spacing out. Or they had like a weekly food plan they already made. Connor seems like the type to make a plan like that. Hanging your coat up you decide to go and settle in on the other side of the couch from Hank. May as well settle in for now.

 

     Hank turned on the tv and it tuned in immediately to the news station, that same blonde haired woman appearing. Rosanna Cartland! That's what her name was. You glanced down at the headline that was scrolling along the bottom of the screen. "Android Leader To Be Meeting With President Warren." Just as you registered that, and before you could read more, Hank changed the channel and some hockey game filled the tv instead. You almost called out, irked by the sudden change, but bit back the words. It was his tv. He had first say on what to watch ultimately. With a huff, you instead pulled out your phone to check the news. That headline had caught your eye and piqued your curiosity.

 

    As you opened up the homepage for KNC news the news article was the first one you came across. You tapped on it and the page loaded surprisingly fast. With a glance to the top of your screen, you realized your phone had auto-connected to the wi-fi. Must've remembered it after all this time. You hummed in thought as you began reading. The leader of the Android revolution, named "Markus", will be meeting with President Warren this coming Friday. The purpose of this meeting is to finalize what rights will be guaranteed to Android-kind. It will be televised around 4/5pm central time. There will be a forum next week that will be open to the public to hear their concerns.

 

    You'd probably still be at work when that airs. Maybe you could catch it on the tv in the break room. It was generally good to keep up with these kinds of things. Then you could usually accurately predict and track the trends crimes will take after the fact. You pressed the power button and the screen went dark before you pocketed the device once more. Idly you watched the hockey game, not really understanding a lot of what was going on. Hank seemed to be hazily watching from what you could tell when you glanced over. You could hear Connor in the kitchen, chopping up something that was crisp. Maybe vegetables or something? You turned back to the tv and worried your lip in thought. It wouldn't hurt to ask if you could help right? It'd be a good way to be helpful and not just be a nuisance in the house.

 

    So you stood up from where you'd been sitting and made your way around the back of the couch and to the kitchen. When you stepped in through the doorway you saw Connor at the counter by the stove, chopping what looked like a few cloves of garlic.

 

    "Do you want some help with cooking?"

 

    Connor didn't flinch this time but paused in his chopping like he was in thought.

 

    "...Sure." He stepped back and turned towards you. "Can you help with finishing up the garlic? And then slice up the white onion there?"

 

    "Yep, can do."

 

    You rolled up your sleeves and walked over to the cutting board. Quickly and easily getting to work. There wasn't much left to be done on the garlic so you finished that up easily. Connor went about washing a large head of broccoli in the sink. You moved on to the white onion, chopping off the top and bottom ends of it before you peeled off the top two layers. As you gripped the knife in your right hand you cut the onion in half first before starting to cut it into thin slices.

 

    "So what are you making anyhow?"

 

    "The plan for dinner tonight is a chicken and vegetable stir fry."

 

    You sniffled as you could feel the stinging in your eyes from the onion.

 

    "Huh. Should be really good. Do you have any better than bouillon? Specifically the chicken base one."

 

    "I'm not sure... Why do you ask?"

 

    "Oh. Well, I've found that it adds a nice extra salty taste to the stir fry generally and brings out more flavor in the chicken."

 

    He hummed in thought, turning off the sink faucet. Then you could hear him rustling around, looking through cabinets as you continued chopping up the onion.

 

    "Aha!"

 

    You looked over your shoulder and saw Connor proudly holding up the small jar labeled Better Than Bouillon: Chicken Base. You gave him a smile and gave him a thumbs up with the hand not holding the knife.

 

    "Nice!"

 

     The rest of the prep work continued in about the same fashion. Then when it came down to the actual cooking it surprised you that Connor didn’t immediately try to shoo you away from the kitchen. You were grateful to be able to help and actually be able to do much of anything at all really. Once everything was cooked properly the food was ready to be served and thus consumed. Though there was definitely more than enough here for leftovers from what you could tell. Hank had wandered into the kitchen by this point, most likely allured by the aroma. He had that weirdly warm expression on his face again as you looked over. Though this time it disappeared almost as soon as your eyes met his. You helped Connor plate food and bring it to the table while Hank gathered up and placed napkins and utensils.

 

    Once the table was set, the three of you sat down in the same arrangement as before. It was practically starting to become a routine at this point. Then the two of you dug in. It tasted amazing! You would've felt embarrassed by how quickly you ate if you were in different company to be quite perfectly honest. But it wasn't like Hank was gonna care. Well not so much that he didn't care. But it wasn't the first time he'd seen you do so and you've seen him do the same. So really it was kind of a moot point. After you cleared your plate you leaned back in your chair, the thought of getting seconds was incredibly tempting. But at the same time, you knew you should give your stomach a second so you could see if you were actually full yet or not. Hank was eating at a slower pace comparatively so he most likely wouldn't end up in the same boat as you.

 

    After waiting for a bit you decide that yeah you were definitely full and that eating more at this point would just be overeating. Hank finished up not long after you made that choice. As he sat back in his own chair a bit of conversation flowed easily between the three of you as to how your respective days went. They mentioned a few interesting looking people they saw while they were staking out the alley but unfortunately, none of them actually went into the place. You didn't really have much to talk about aside from just saying your day was spent mostly just filing away reports and making sure they were filled out properly. It was after that the conversation turned to the matter of sleeping arrangements.

 

    "I really don't have a problem sleeping on the couch."

 

    "You might not but I sure as fuck do. Hell, I shouldn't have made you sleep there in the first place last night."

 

    "It's really fine, Hank."

 

    Connor cleared his throat and spoke like it was just a vague thought.

 

    "If I may interject. The two of you could just share the bed. It is large enough for two adults."

 

    "What?"

 

    "Excuse you?"

 

    Both of you looked at the android in a mixture of disbelief and confusion. He blinked in surprise and seemed perplexed by both of your reactions.

 

    "It would be a good way to resolve the argument. Plus then that way I would not have to be worried about accidentally waking up either of you in the middle of the night. Much like I was last night when (y/n) slept out in the living room."

 

    That made you pause. The idea of sharing a bed didn't disgust you or anything like that. It was more so just a case of embarrassment and concern about the whole scenario more than anything else. But if it really meant the difference between being a nuisance who was a burden on Connor by sleeping on the couch or just the simple awkward scenario of having to share a bed. Well...it was definitely a hard choice. But one that needed to be made regardless. You glanced at Hank who seemed to be in the same mental conundrum as you were. You worried your lip for a few seconds before slowing speaking up.

 

    "I... I mean I guess..it'd be fine?"

 

    Hank gave you a look of disbelief. Raised brow and everything.

 

    "I mean only if you're okay with it that is of course?"

 

    He leaned back in his chair and huffed in defeat.

 

    "Yeah okay. I guess..."

 

    Connor gave a small smile, happy that the two of you came to an agreement of sorts. It almost looked patronizing.

 

    "Okay, do you mind if I go on ahead and hop into the shower to clean up?"

 

    "Feel free."

 

    "Thanks."

 

    You gave him a small smile. Standing up you went and grabbed stuff like pajamas and what not from your bag. Then you moved off to the bathroom to get cleaned up. It'd been a while since you'd had a chance to wash and you could practically feel the layer of grime that had settled on top of your skin. After turning on both the light and the worn fan. You grabbed a clean towel from the small closet and went about turning on the water, turning the knob for hot water further than you normally would on your own shower since Hank's tended to not get as hot. After getting undressed you stepped into the shower, making sure your arm was securely attached. The next time you're alone you should probably spend some time with it off. Having it on all the time wasn't the best. But it helped.

 

    The water felt amazing, though the pressure wasn't as strong as you wanted. The warmth of it was nice and you regained feeling in your toes. You hadn't even realized they'd gone numb. After basking in the warmth for a little bit you went about washing your hair, "stealing" shampoo and conditioner from Hank. Using body wash was going to have to wait till you were back home. You didn't feel up to using the loofah that was there in the shower. Nothing against the man but there were certain rules of hygiene that you tried to follow. You rinsed off the last of the suds from your hair and just stood in the water for a little bit. After a few moments, you decided that that was enough and turned the water off. The bathroom was definitely full of steam at this point. That fan did very little for venting out steam it seemed. You stepped out of the shower and started to dry yourself off with the towel, taking extra care to dry off your right arm and the connection point of the false limb. After you finished with that you finished drying off, hanging the towel on the rack once you were done with it.

 

     Once you had your pajamas on you looked at yourself in the small mirror on the medicine cabinet. The silver strands stuck out in your wet hair and the circles under your eyes were definitely defined at this point. You gently thumbed at the knot on the bridge of your nose from when it had gotten broken. It'd been long enough that sometimes you forgot that it was there. Then you ran a hand through your hair with a sigh. You should vacate the bathroom so Hank could use the bathroom to get ready for bed. Right. You were going to have to share the bed with Hank. You were sure it would be fine. Hank was honestly probably more nervous or worried about it than you were.

 

     Gathering your clothes from off the floor you bundled them in your arms before making your way out of the bathroom. You walked down the hall with clothes in hand and saw Hank had moved from the dining table to the couch in the living room, tv back to showing hockey. Though from what you could tell it looked like a different game since the teams' jerseys were different colors than the game from earlier in the evening.

 

    "Bathroom's free if you need it."

 

    You could see his shoulders tense up just slightly before he glanced at you from over the couch.

 

    "Alright, I'll do that in just a moment."

 

    "Okay."

 

    He turned back to the tv and you moved over to where you'd left your bag. As you stuff your dirty clothes away back into the bag you heard the groan of the couch as Hank stood up. His footsteps made their way away from the living room and down the hall. You decided to settle back onto the couch, sitting down with your legs tucked underneath you as you leaned against the armrest. Connor came into the living room a moment after you'd sat down. It looked like he'd finished cleaning up the kitchen completely. He sat down on the couch where Hank had been, giving you a friendly nod in greeting which you returned. He grabbed the remote and deftly flipped through the channels, stopping immediately on CTN which was the same news channel that was constantly playing at the precinct. The older newscaster was once more talking about the situation in the artic with tensions between the US and Russia. On the one hand, you were sure that the threats were real enough. But at the same time, you hoped that this whole WW3 business didn't come to pass.

 

    "You ready for bed?"

 

    You turned around and saw Hank leaning against the wall of the hallway. He was already dressed down in a t-shirt and boxers. You hadn't even heard him finish up in the bathroom or walk down the hall over the drone of the tv.

 

    "Um..yeah. Yeah. I just gotta brush my teeth and I'll be right there."

 

    "Alright. Well, goodnight Connor. I'll see you in the morning."

 

    "Goodnight Hank, sleep well."

 

    Hank turned with a wave and headed down the hall. Connor continued watching the news and you got up to grab your toothbrush and toothpaste from your bag. Once you had both items in hand you made your way to the bathroom and went about finishing up getting ready for bed. You brushed your teeth easily, doing your best to quell the part of your brain that was rapidly spinning up random scenarios and awkward thoughts. It didn't help. Spitting into the sink you took a moment to pause, leaning against the sink. It would be fine! Nothing weird was going to happen. You'd fall asleep and keep to yourself and then wake up the next morning better rested for having slept in a bed this time. That's all there would be to it. You rinsed off the toothbrush and placed it on the sink, may as well since you'd be here for a few days most likely.

 

    Then you were exiting the bathroom, flicking off the light behind you. You called down the hall.

 

    "Goodnight Connor, see ya in the morning!"

 

    "Goodnight (y/n). Sleep well!"

 

    You felt a small smile pull at your lips as Connor called back to you from the living room. Then you walked the few steps into the bedroom and stiffly shut the door behind you. Hank was already laying in bed, reading something on the electronic pad. He merely glanced at you before looking away quickly, maybe sheepishly. You slowly padded around to the other side of the bed. His room seemed more put together than you remembered it usually being. Maybe he cleaned up? Well at least somewhat. Amusement filled you as you saw clothes piled up in the corner of the room. At least it wasn't freakishly clean and seemed lived in which was good. You pulled back the covers and got into bed, making sure to keep a safe amount of space between the both of you in the middle of the bed. As you shuffled down to a laying position on your right side, making sure you had your back to Hank. The man in question also settled in, most likely placing the pad on the ground by his side of the bed and making sure he had his back to you as well.

 

    "Well, goodnight (y/n).."

 

    "Night, Hank."

 

    He shut off the light and everything was thrown into immediate darkness. You shut your eyes softly and did your best to relax and take deep breaths, hoping for sleep to claim you quickly. It did not. Instead, you found yourself laying there for some time before sleep finally came for you, pulling you into the warm escape of nothingness.

 

~.~.~.~.~.~.~

 

    When you woke up you found yourself not wanting to move, the feeling of being held so tightly and holding on to whoever was so wonderful and made you feel completely at ease. Also because they felt so warm. You were pressed up against the other body by your front and your legs were tangled up with theirs. There was the faint smell of morning breath and sweat but underneath that was something so familiar that you couldn't put your finger on. So familiar and safe.

 

     With a quiet hum, you slowly opened up your eyes and were immediately greeted by the sight of a stained gray shirt. You tensed up immediately as you came to realize the full extent of your predicament. At some point during the night, Hank and you had shifted about and wound up cuddling each other in your sleep. The fact that both of you were holding onto the other so securely was something you didn't miss acknowledging. Though the other fact of the matter was you were pretty there was no way you were able to get out of this without waking up Hank. That was an awkward situation you definitely wanted to avoid having to deal with. Just for the sake of trying though you attempted to pull away. Hank immediately gave a quiet groan of annoyance and pulled you back in tighter to him. So that's that theory tested.

 

     You settled in with a sigh, doing your best to get comfortable again. Might as well after all. As you laid there with your eyes closed you focused on Hank's slow breathing and the dull heartbeat you could just faintly hear. That same warm blanket of comfort seemed to cover you once more as you found yourself matching your breathing with Hank's. For the first morning in a very long while you ended up drifting off into sleep once more, settling further into Hank in the process.

 

~.~.~

 

    It wasn't long after that that you woke up again. Only this time you found yourself alone in the bed. You slowly blinked in confusion, the side of your face still squished into the pillow. When the hell did you fall back asleep? And where did Hank go? Moving your hand you patted his side of the bed and found it to still be fairly warm which meant he probably only got up just recently. You rolled onto your back with a groan, rubbing at your eyes. So how was this going to play out? He probably got up and out to avoid talking about the incident. Which honestly sounded like as good a plan as any. Best to play it off as nothing than make things more awkward than they already were.

 

    As you forced yourself to sit up you stretched, a small noise making it's way out from the back of your throat. You yawned as you brought your arms back down from above your head. Then you threw off the covers and swung your feet out and over the side of the bed. The feeling of carpet surprised you ever so slightly, the texture of it different from your own bedroom flooring. You scratched the back of your head bemused at yourself. There was no real reason you should've been surprised by that. Then you stood up and slowly made your way around the bed and towards the closed door so that you could get to the bathroom. As you opened the door you could hear Hank and Connor talking from the kitchen.

 

    "-I still believe it would be a good idea to wake her up. From what I could tell (y/n) isn't a fan for oversleeping."

 

    "It's fine Connor. Besides, if you're so worried about her why don't you go and wake her up yourself?"

 

    You rolled your eyes at how grumpy Hank sounded and you could hear Connor sigh in defeat. Then you walked across the hall and into the bathroom, making sure to softly shut the door once you were inside. Hank probably was avoiding telling Connor about how the two of you were this morning. Though Connor was right. You weren't big on oversleeping when you had a schedule to keep to. But waking up in Hank's arms like that was pretty nice... You shook your head to clear those thoughts from your mind and went about your business.

 

    As you were washing your hands you chanced a look at the bathroom mirror. Your cheeks looked ruddy and flushed, but overall you looked surprisingly rested. Though your hair was a definite mess of bedhead. That was gonna take some work to deal with. Then your eye caught on the mess of sticky notes that littered the wall and mirror. How the hell did you not notice these before? You peered specifically at the ones that lined the mirror.

 

    [ Don't forget to smile! ]

 

    [ Shave or don't shave? ]

 

    [ :) ]

 

    The handwriting was pretty clearly Hank's scrawl. His handwriting always seemed neater than yours. But these little notes. Why? Was this his other way of coping? Little positive notes? Maybe you could sneak a little note of your own in here for him. See if he'll notice. You moved away and dried your hands on the small towel. It'd be a nice thing to do in theory. But he also might get mad at you for messing with his stuff. As you were putting the towel back you could hear something snuffling at the bottom of the door before you heard a thud settle down in front of it. It must've been Sumo trying to investigate. You ran your fingers through your hair to try to get it into some semblance of tame but only ran into a bunch of knots. Shaking your hand free you exited the bathroom.

 

     As soon as you opened the door you found Sumo laying directly in the doorway. The sight made you giggle. Sumo looked up at you as his tail wagged and you couldn't help but pet his side a bit. You could feel the grin that spread across your face as your hand ran over his fur.

 

    "Oh, who's such a good boy. Trying to come and make sure I'm safe." You cooed at him as he wagged his tail and his tongue lolled out happily.

 

    You patted his side twice to signal that you were done petting him for now. Then you straightened up and stepped over the big dog. Sumo was such a good boy. You walked the short distance down the hall and stopped in the doorway to the kitchen. There you saw Hank sitting at the table, fully dressed, and Connor was finishing up with food. Hank looked over at you and very briefly met your eyes before immediately looking away. He coughed into his hand before greeting you.

 

    "Morning (y/n)."

 

    You scratched at your arm. Finding yourself unable to really look at Hank much. Every time you did, your thoughts kept jumping back to the feeling of his embrace this morning.

 

    "Morning Hank."

 

    Connor looked over at you excitedly and smiled.

 

    "Good morning (y/n). How did you sleep?"

 

    "Fine!" You felt heat race up your neck. You definitely answered too quickly. "I slept fine. Um...Thanks for asking. How was your night?"

 

    Connor quirked a brow at you but answered nonetheless.

 

    "My evening was quite pleasant. I talked with Markus for a while and didn't even realize how much time ended up passing."

 

    Oh my. That sounds exciting. You were also grateful for the change in topic and felt a cheeky grin made it's way to your face.

 

    "Oh? Well, that sounds wonderful."

 

    "It was. I'm very grateful for his words."

 

    "What kind of stuff did you guys talk about?"

 

    You could've sworn you saw a tinge of blue light up Connor's cheeks ever so slightly.

 

    "Nothing that I feel is worth sharing at this time."

 

    "You sure?" You quirked a brow, having a guess as to who this Markus person was to Connor.

 

    "Yes, I'm quite definitely sure."

 

    You shrugged, letting him off the hook of your curiosity for now.

 

    "Alright then. But if anything does develop you should probably give Hank a heads up at the very least."

 

    You heard Hank chuckle before speaking up with a teasing look of his own.

 

    "Oh. He most certainly will."

 

    Connor looked absolutely embarrassed and it left you and Hank to laugh a little bit at the sight. The deep sound of Hank laughing sent butterflies bouncing around in your gut. Neither of you meant to be cruel in your actions. At least on your end, you thought it was kind of cute that Connor had someone he might be sweet on. Maybe if things worked out between him and this Markus fellow, Connor might just loosen up and not seem so stiff around just about everyone. Though something about the name seemed faintly familiar. But you couldn't place why it was.

 

    Connor turned back to the stove with a deep breath, cheeks still faintly blue.

 

    "Regardless you should sit down since I'll have breakfast ready in just a moment."

 

    You realized he meant you and so you moved to do as told, sitting down across from Hank as you did before. Only this time you felt tense and awkwardly looked about the room, pointedly making sure not to look Hank in the eyes. From what you could tell in your peripheries, Hank seemed to be doing the same. You picked at some dirt from under your nails. Then Connor was thankfully bringing two plates of food to the table. He set them down in front of you both, the blush had died down from his cheeks a bit by this point. Then he walked away again but returned immediately with two steaming mugs filled near to the brim with coffee. He set the mugs down and then sat down in the third seat. You and Hank dug into your breakfast of a ham and cheese omelet with what looked like diced red bell pepper mixed in as well. You were pleasantly surprised that it had a lot more flavor to it than the breakfast yesterday.

 

    "Mmm...This tastes amazing Connor. What all did you put in?"

 

    "I'm glad you like it. Aside from the obvious eggs, I included diced ham, bell pepper, green onion, and shredded cheese."

 

    "You've done good Con."

 

    "Thank you, Hank."

 

    Connor beamed proudly, clearing enjoying the praise. It kind of reminded you of a child being complimented by a parent. Both Hank and you glanced at each other in amusement but you quickly looked away as soon as you realized. You focused back on your plate and got to work shoving food into your mouth to keep yourself busy, only pausing to take intermittent sips of your coffee. As you stuff your face you could see Connor looking back and forth between you and Hank in your peripheries. His expression looked pinched or scrunched up from what you could tell. But you couldn't really do much to assuage any concerns of his. At least not without bringing up how you woke up this morning originally.

 

    It wasn't very long till you were both finishing up with breakfast, plates cleaned of food and mugs very empty. You placed your fork down and leaned back in your chair with a sigh of contentment. The omelet tasted absolutely amazing. It surprised you just how much more flavorful the food was this morning in comparison to the night before. Connor was definitely a quick learner.

 

    "So what's the plan for today anyhow?"

 

    Connor seemed hesitant and Hank was picking at the last few stray pieces of food that were on his plate. A worrying moment passed. Finally, Hank set his fork down and spoke up.

 

    "How do you feel about staying here for the day?"

 

    "What? Why?"

 

    "Figure it'll keep you out of sight of The Mortician's people."

 

    You sat there flabbergasted, thoughts turning over a mile a minute. After a few moments, you threw your hands up.

 

    "I take it you and Connor are going to be going back to the alley then?"

 

    "Yeah..."

 

    Hank rubbed at the back of his neck as he leaned back in his chair. You pinched the bridge of your nose and tried to calm yourself. You knew this was for the best and that the less time you spent in sight meant less danger to your person. But the idea of being trapped set you so on edge. Fuck.

 

    "Fine."

 

    You begrudgingly agreed to do so. At least for now. No promises could be made.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> having to deal with minor bouts of writer's block is not the most helpful thing in the world. plus the combination of family troubles + schoolwork is stressful u.u; but i hope you enjoy the story and where it's going <3


	6. Good Things Never Seem To Last

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Certainly, it can't just be the police interested in this string of murders right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i apologize for the delay, been kinda dragged back into both Ace Attorney hell and also now Fire Emblem: Three Houses so yea u.u;;
> 
> fun fact: i struggle a lot with writing dialogue and yet here we are

    The quietness of the house was oppressive and stifling, you wondered at how the hell Hank could even possibly stand it. Very rarely you could hear the faint sound of cars passing by in the distance. Maybe once or twice you could hear a dog bark in the distance. But all in all those sounds were greatly muffled and you only could hear them if you strained your ears to do so. You idly ran your fingers through Sumo's soft fur as you laid on the couch, your other arm behind your head. Maybe this restlessness was why he had always been going out to drink. Or maybe it was just you and your own anxiety.

 

     Regardless of this idle thought, you did what you could to keep yourself entertained. At first, you busied yourself with attempting to go over the investigation files as they updated to get any kind of enlightenment. But you quickly gave up on that route due to how slow the updates were. You even checked your lockscreen a few times even though there were no notifications. Every time it would just display the date and time... which was currently: 10:44 am on December 9th, 2038. You gently tossed your phone back on the coffee table with a huff. You'd already changed out of pj's and into regular day clothes not long after Hank and Connor had left. So you tried looking around the house to see if you could alleviate the boredom. It wouldn’t hurt to see what has or hasn’t changed since you were last here. You perused the books on his bookshelf and found yourself smiling fondly at the familiarity. However, nothing really piqued your current interest as far as reading went. So you moved over to the cabinet where Hank kept his records and started leafing through them. Most of them you recognized but there were one or two that were newer. You glanced at the covers of the new ones but the idea of listening to jazz music didn't seem like it would rid you of this restlessness.

 

    You heaved a sigh as you straightened up from looking at the records. What to do, what to do. You shifted your weight to your hip as you stood there looking around the living room before you threw your hands up into the air in defeat. You needed to get out of this damn house. It's too quiet. Too empty. As you turn around to make a beeline for the door, your eyes land on where Sumo was still laying down by the couch. There's no way Hank's been walking him as he oughtta. This seems as good a time as any to take the big guy out with you. You could just vaguely remember that there was a dog park just a couple of blocks away from the house. Sure enough, when you looked it up on your phone to get directions it was definitely within walking distance and would be great exercise for both you and Sumo. You worried your lip in thought as you glanced over at Sumo who was still by the couch. Sure you had told Hank you'd stay put. Begrudgingly yes. But still. Fuck it. You were gonna go crazy if you had to stay put the entire day here.

 

    As you went about getting yourself ready to go, Sumo watched you with his droopy eyes. After you had on your shoes and coat you made sure to also grab your phone and keys. Briefly, you considered bringing a warm drink with you but that seemed like too much work at this point and you just wanted to already be out of the house. You slipped on your gloves and scarf before grabbing Sumo's leash.

 

    "Hey Suumoo~" You called out for the St Bernard and he came lopping over. His tail immediately wagging as soon as he spots the leash in your hands.

 

    Once you clipped it to his collar the two of you exited the house. You made sure to lock the front door with the spare key Hank always hid on top of the porch light. Placing the key in your pocket, you led the way with Sumo by your side and headed in the direction of the dog park.

 

~.~.~.~.~.~.~

 

    With only a few stops along the way, you and Sumo made it the couple of blocks to the dog park. You enter through the two gates before you let Sumo off his leash. The dog immediately made tracks in the muddy snow as he went running around with some of the other dogs. As you tightened your scarf around your neck you already felt yourself feeling less restless. Even just watching Sumo run about brought a warm feeling rising in your chest. It almost felt... normal.. to be doing this. Sure you'd told Hank you would stay at the house, but it couldn't hurt to just come out to the dog park. It was still in the neighborhood. Plus, you figured you could just be back at the house long before Hank would be coming back.

 

    You slowly started to walk the gravel path that was just barely visible. There weren't many other people in the park, but there were some. Maybe because it was weirdly warmer than one would expect for December in Detroit. Granted it was definitely still cold. But not as cold as 'normal'. You settled down on a cleared off the bench where you could see most of the park and mostly kept yourself occupied with people watching and keeping an eye on Sumo. It was still plenty cold of enough where you could see your breath in the air. As you watched Sumo with the snow being sprayed up around him and another dog, you couldn't tell the breed from where you sat, but the sight of the two of them caused your train of thought to drift to a faint memory. It had been one of the times when you came here with Hank, Cole, and Sumo in tow of course. It'd been a clear and sunny day and Cole had started a game of tag between the three of you. You found yourself smiling as the scene played out in your mind's eye.

 

    But you were quickly pulled from your thoughts as you felt your phone buzzing insistently. When you finally managed to fumble your phone out of your pocket the screen showed the caller's name: Hank Anderson.

 

    Shit.

 

    The man never calls without a reason. Maybe it was nothing. You took a breath before hitting the green answer button and holding the phone up to your ear.

 

    "Hell-"

 

    " _(Y/n)! Are you okay? Where are you?_ "

 

     He sounded panicked in a way that almost scared you, a sickening feeling spiking through your gut. So you responded as calmly as you could.

 

    "Good afternoon to you too Lieutenant. Yes, I'm fine. I'm at the dog park with Sumo. Why do you ask?"

 

    You heard a heavy sigh from his side of the line.

 

    " _..Jesus...yeah that makes a lot more sense..._ "

 

     He was muttering more to himself than you so you continued to wait patiently taking a second of your own to actually calm yourself down.

 

    " _Came back for lunch and you weren't here. Just uh...nevermind. Glad you're okay._ "

 

    You nervously chuckled as you heard him give another sigh.

 

    "Do you normally come back for lunch? I always thought you just went out to eat."

 

    " _Well...I don't normally no. But I also know there's not much in the way of readily available food in the house.._ "

 

    "And you were worried about me not eating?"

 

    " _Y-yeah..._ "

 

    That got an honest chuckle out of you and you found yourself smiling fondly.

 

    "Well, I can head back as soon as I can wrangle Sumo back onto his leash. What were you thinking of doing for lunch anyhow?"

 

    " _Don't really know yet...Something real simple probably?_ "

 

    "Alright. Well, I'll be heading over real soon so I'll see ya then okay?"

 

    " _Yeah, alright. Walk safe, (y/n)._ "

 

    "Always do. See ya soon, Hank."

 

    You hung up and pocketed your phone with a small shake of your head, that same smile still firmly in place. That last part of the call felt almost rather domestic. Not an unwelcome feeling. But definitely odd. With a groan you made yourself stand up from the bench. You hadn't even realized how much time had passed while you were sitting there and now it felt like the cold had settled deep in your legs. It made you feel weirdly old. Because of this you carefully made your way over to where Sumo was play wrestling with the other dog. The muddy snow softly crunched beneath your boots. As you got closer you could vaguely tell that the other dog was some kind of Labrador mix and was wearing a coat and little snowshoes over its paws.

 

    "Suuumoo~ Hey Sumo~"

 

    The Saint Bernard's ears perk up as you call his name and he immediately made a beeline for you. He nearly bowled you over with his exuberance as he ran into your legs. You only just barely managed to catch yourself and keep from falling onto your ass and instead just taking a few steps back to compensate. As you pet him you used your other hand to quickly latch the leash onto his collar before he could go bounding off again. He followed along slowly as you gave the leash a slight tug and set off back towards the park entrance/exit. After passing through the gates with minimal trouble you and Sumo both started the trek back home where Hank awaited.

 

~.~.~.~

 

     Though it wasn't until you were a block away from the dog park that something notable caught your attention. Up ahead you could see what appeared to be two men having an argument of some kind. Or really just a one-sided yelling match considering the expression on the face of the blond man that you could see. He seemed mostly calm in his posture but there was a definite tension in his face that set you on edge. Whomever the man that was doing the yelling was had best lay off if he knew what was best for him, you decided then and there as you got closer. The man who was yelling had his back to you and definitely was bigger than you from you could tell. All you could tell by his words was that he was some dickhead who thought he was tough shit. You came to a stop just a foot away and tightened your hold on Sumo's leash, moving your hands so it looked like you were straining to hold the dog back from attacking. Sumo wouldn't do such a thing but this guy didn't need to know that. You cleared your throat and called out with as much confidence as you could.

 

    "Hey!"

 

    Both of their attention snapped to you immediately. The blonde man's eyes snapping to you with surprise. Whereas the man who'd been yelling whipped his head around with a heavy glare, his expression reminding you of a snarling dog.

 

    "What the fuck do you want?!"

 

    You held yourself from flinching back and stood your ground, squaring your shoulders and anchoring your feet in preparation.

 

    "You need to stop harassing this man and leave."

 

    You tugged back on Sumo's leash and collar a bit more to make it seem like the big dog was just waiting to attack the man. It was as you did so that he noticed the giant burly dog at your side. The man's face paled and you could see his expression flicker between anger and fear.

 

    "What's it to you what I do or don't do?"

 

    "You're making an ass out of yourself and honestly just being unpleasant. Now get a move on already."

 

    He seemed to deliberate in his head, his eyes shifting from you, to Sumo, and to the side rapidly in thought. Then he seemed to come to a decision and stomped away past you, purposefully bumping into your shoulder as he did. You turned slightly to watch him scurry off like a rat. What a douche. With a sigh, you allowed yourself to relax and loosened your hold on Sumo. When you turned back you found the blonde man had stepped just a little bit closer and had a polite smile across his features. You brushed your bangs back behind your ear and gave the man a concerned frown.

 

    "I hope I wasn't interrupting anything important... But are you alright?"

 

    He shook his head.

 

    "I'm quite alright, thank you. You stepping in was very helpful and I must say I wasn't expecting it."

 

    You arched your brow and tilted your head in confusion. But he interrupted you before you could get any words out.

 

    "Regardless, my name is Simon. Might I know the name of my savior?"

 

    The cheeky grin he gave you made you huff a laugh and give a polite smile of your own.

 

    "My name's (y/n), and really, it wasn't any trouble at all. I'm happy to have been here to do so."

 

    In the back of your mind you could've sworn you've seen Simon somewhere before. From where or when though you couldn't place.

 

    "Well, thank you very much (y/n). As much as I would love to give my gratitude in full, I might need to trouble you just a little bit further."

 

    You tilted your head to the side and arched your brow in a silent question. Sumo settled into a sit on your left.

 

    "I'm looking for someone who lives in the area and was wondering if you knew them?"

 

    "Oh. Well, I'm afraid to say I probably won't be of much help there. I don't actually live here, I'm just staying with a friend for a little bit..."

 

    "Ah."

 

    His expression had gone back to that polite and withdrawn look. In the back of your mind, you only vaguely noticed how lightly Simon was dressed for the cold. It was kind of worrying. Then you had an idea before Simon could say anything to leave.

 

    "But if you tell me who it is your looking for I could probably ask my friend about it and see if he knows them?"

 

    He blinked in surprise, his mouth left hanging partially open.

 

    ".....Very well. I'm sure it couldn't hurt. I'm looking for a man who goes by the name of Hank Anderson."

 

    It felt like you'd just been punched in the gut. There seemed to be ringing in your ears as you felt your expression twist into a poor excuse of a smile that was laced with confusion and concern. Before your thoughts could take off down the fast track of wrong assumptions Simon held up his hands in a placating gesture, most likely already guessing your feelings by your expression.

 

    "Please don't misunderstand me. I'm looking for the man in charge of the Mortician's investigation for Markus, the leader of the Android Freedom Movement."

 

    You blinked a few times, your brain having to play catch-up and process all the implications of the last few seconds. A gasp escaped as recognition dawned on your stupified mind. Now you remember where you'd seen him from before! It was from videos of things like the freedom march that'd aired over the news. That would mean he was an android! Which would also explain the light amount of clothing he was wearing given how cold it was. Oh my god.

 

    Also: Markus? There's no way in hell that that was the same Markus that Connor had been talking about could it? You supposed it could be possible. But the odds of that..! It felt like your head was spinning in circles. You gently shook your head to clear your thoughts. If he was looking for Hank for the purpose of this case...

 

    "Well...um...funny you should mention that case." You cleared your throat before continuing. "Hank and I are both technically working on the Mortician case...I should probably clarify. I'm Lieutenant (Y/n) (L/n). I didn't introduce myself as such originally cause, well, it always seems awkward to do so."

 

    Now Simon blinked in surprise.

 

    "That certainly is a shock. I knew that Lieutenant (L/n) was also on this case but to up and meet you out of the blue like this is..."

 

    "Shocking?"

 

    "To say the least. Yes."

 

    "I feel kinda the same. It's not every day you get to meet one of the most important people to help bring freedom to androids."

 

    "Oh. I wouldn't necessarily call myself that."

 

    That was definitely a blue tint of a blush on his cheeks. You let a small chuckle pass before you spoke.

 

    "Either way, perhaps I could help you with any inquiries you have about the ongoing investigation."

 

    He agreed wholeheartedly and the two of you exchanged numbers, well mostly you gave him your cellphone number and he gave you a number to call to get in touch with him. Then the two of you parted with vague plans of meeting up downtown somewhere so you could discuss the investigation with both Simon and Markus at a later time since you needed to talk with Hank first to get his input. It only seemed fair after all since the two of you were both in charge of the investigation. It wouldn't be right to go behind his back or anything like that.

 

~.~.~.~

 

    The rest of the walk back was uneventful. Even when you got back into the house Hank simply gave you a chill "Welcome back." It was kind of weird how almost normal it felt to be welcomed home like that. Though it wasn't like you  _actually_  lived here or anything like that. But it was a nice enough feeling. Lunch ended up just being hot dogs and chips. It was the easiest thing to make that was in the house, aside from trying to figure out what leftovers were what in the fridge. It was only as you were just munching on the last few chips on your plate that Hank spoke up.

 

    "How was your walk?"

 

    "It was pretty good. Could've done without that little incident at the end on the way back. But it was good overall."

 

    He raised a brow at you in a silent concerned question.

 

    "Ah. It was nothing serious honestly. There was some random schmuck being a dick to an android and I stepped in, that's all. Guy backed off pretty quickly so there wan't an altercation or anything like that. Pretty sure I scared him off more with Sumo than anything else if I were being entirely honest."

 

    "Huh. Well glad to hear things worked out well. Maybe we should bring Sumo in as an officer.."

 

    He had a playful grin and you knew exactly what he was implying.

 

    "Hey now! Just because I'm not nearly as big and intimidating looking as Sumo doesn't mean ya get to just replace me."

 

    "So you admit your not intimidating looking. Now pretty sure that would mean you're small and cute if I'm understanding correctly."

 

    "I-! Hank Anderson you of all people know that neither of those is true."

 

    You rolled your eyes but could feel the blush heating up your face. However, it did get a hearty laugh out of him nonetheless and you found yourself laughing along as well in spite of yourself.

 

    The two of you went back to eating after that, small smiles still playing on your faces. As you thought for a moment you had no idea why you hadn't specified that it was Simon you had met. That and the whole thing of Markus, the leader of the Android Freedom Movement, wanting to speak with the ones in charge of the Mortician's investigation. Also, this Markus being the same one that Connor had been talking about earlier? You supposed it would be weird to bring it up now since there's been a large lull and what not. For now, you'd keep it to yourself you supposed. There would be a chance to probably bring it up at dinner. Besides then you could ask Connor directly about his Markus.

 

    Speaking of not bringing things up... Hank hadn't even brought up the fact that you broke your promise to him yet. Well, the two of you were just finishing up with food. It was as good a time to bring it up as any right? You could feel your stomach start to churn painfully.

 

    "Hey, Hank?"

 

    "Hm?"

 

    You took a breath and spoke quickly.

 

    "I know you asked me to stay put and I said I would...And then I didn't. So um...I'm sorry about that."

 

    He sighed, resting his arms on the table.

 

    "It's fine. Honestly, it really is. Shouldn't have asked that of you...Hell, I can barely stay in this house all day. So to ask that of you and expect it was kind of bullshit."

 

    You blinked a few times.

 

    "Oh. Okay. Well, I'm glad we got that cleared up then."

 

    "Heh, indeed."

 

    Hank headed out not long after that, telling you he'd be back later tonight with Connor in tow. Thus leaving you and Sumo at the house all alone once more.

 

~.~.~.~.~.~.~

 

    It was nearing 6 pm and the sun was just barely still peeking out from the horizon. You had busied yourself with reading one of the smaller paperback books that'd been sitting in Hank's bookshelf while the TV played some kind of period drama quietly in the background. You couldn’t say what the show was since you hadn’t been paying attention to it, mostly just using it for background noise more than anything else. Placing the book page-down on the table, you sat up with a stretch from where you’d been laying against the arm of the couch. Now was as good a time as any to take a quick break and check the investigation files. Of course, that meant having to go and dig your tablet pad out of your work bag. Which was all the way by the front door. You gave a half-hearted glare at where your bag rested against the wall. It was so far away. Really you had no one to blame but yourself. You rolled your eyes toward the ceiling before making yourself get up and make your way over to grab your tablet.

 

    With your tablet in hand, you settled back onto the couch. Your hands easily passing over the screen to unlock it and navigate your way to the server for the investigation files. Honestly, you weren't expecting anything all that significant since that had been the track-record thus far but it didn't hurt to look anyway. Plus it was something to do. When you opened up the folder containing the investigation notes you saw a new report that hadn't been there this morning. It had just been added within the hour. You quickly opened it up and started scanning the document, hoping beyond hope that maybe it was finally some kind of breakthrough in the case. This time you weren't disappointed and quickly found yourself engrossed in the report.

 

    It talked about how Hank and Connor had been keeping tabs on a person of interest over these last few days. The man had been identified as Jake Krause, age 23, currently employed as a contract worker for server maintenance at a life insurance company. He's been seen going from place to place around downtown, a few of which are known drop sites. It can be assumed that some of these other locations are either other drop sites or are meeting places. As you were looking at the photos attached to the report it happened.

 

    The report vanished.

 

    All of it disappeared and you were left looking at an error window. When you closed the error message and refreshed your connection to the server you instead saw the same old kind of report that you'd been seeing the last few days. The same report that read of no new news. The very same kind that was really starting to piss you off. How the hell did the report just vanish like that? Why? What was going on? There was no way for it to have been done by someone without access. So that really left Hank, Conner, Gavin, and Niles. Maybe you could call one of them...? No. No no no no no. If one of them did indeed do it then there'd be no point in asking them. Maybe that meant it was time to go up the chain a little bit then.

 

    Picking your phone up from the table you dial Fowler. He'd have the kind of access that you didn't and could bypass whatever nonsense was keeping you from seeing the reports. He answers after only a few rings.

 

    "Captain Fowler speaking."

 

    "Hey Fowler, it's (Y/n)."

 

    "(Y/n)? What are you calling for?"

 

    He seemed surprised but you could also hear a bit of worry laced in his tone.

 

    "It's nothing too major, sir. I just wanted to call to see if you could send me the reports for the Mortician's case? I seem to be having trouble with remote accessing the server and I can't get a hold of anyone else."

 

    So it was a little bit of a lie. You worried your lip as Fowler silently deliberated with himself. You only hoped he wasn't somehow in on this whole thing.

 

    "...Very well. But don't expect me to do this again."

 

    "Heh, I appreciate it, Captain."

 

    "I'm sending the files to you now. Take care of yourself alright?"

 

    "Always do my best to do so."

 

    You heard the huff of a laugh before he hung up and you did the same as well. Placing your phone back on the table you only had to wait a few moments before your tablet pinged with the case files from Fowler. The most recent report was the same one that you had just been reading about Jake Krause. It seems he's been the other fours' main focus, between keeping a detailed record of his patterns and the people he'd been meeting with. You had started to skim the people Krause had been meeting with when the sharp realization struck you.

 

    Hank had been lying to you.

 

    So had Connor.

 

    So had Gavin.

 

    And so had Niles.

 

    They'd been faking reports or at least just the ones you had access to.

 

    It felt like something sharp and pointy was constricting your chest painfully. You felt...hurt and betrayed. And yet. You felt disconnected from it all at the same time.

 

    Now you had a choice to make:  **[Stay here and most definitely end up in an argument with Hank when he comes back.]**  OR  **[Leave and handle the investigation on your own with the leads you had in hand now.]**

 

    You chose the second option. Quickly packing up your stuff you left a short note for Hank on the kitchen table. It simply said that you knew he'd been lying about the case and you were going home. Fuck safety. Fuck Hank. Fuck everything about this situation. You forcefully put on your coat and scarf and slung your work bag over your shoulder while you carried your overnight bag. Then without so much as another glance around you headed out into the cold winter evening air and locked the door behind you. Having called a self-driving taxi before you wrote the note you didn't have to wait more than a minute before it pulled up to the curb.

 

    As you rode back to your apartment, your thoughts and feelings made themselves known. How could he lie to you like this? Did he really think so little of you? Did he really trust you so little? Was all of this some kind of stupid trick by Connor and Niles? Was it a dumb plan of theirs to not tell you anything about what was really happening with the investigation so you'd spend more time with Hank? You honestly wouldn't put it past them.

 

    You roughly wiped your eyes as tears flooded down your cheeks. It hurt. It hurt more than you ever thought it would. Why? Why did this have to happen? You found yourself curling in on yourself as the tears just wouldn't stop. This felt too familiar. Why the hell did you think anything would be different? It seems Hank really hadn't changed that much after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯


End file.
